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| A Rohingya refugee boy carries his belongings as he walks to a makeshift camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh |
Britain, France and Australia urged Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Monday to push for an end to military violence against Rohingya Muslims, while her national security adviser said those who had fled could return but the process had to be discussed.
The military response to insurgent attacks last month in the western region of Myanmar sent more than 410,000 Rohingya Muslims fleeing to neighbouring Bangladesh, escaping what the United Nations has branded as ethnic cleansing.
The government says about 400 people have been killed in the fighting.
“We will make sure that everybody who left their home can return to their home but this is a process we have to discuss,” Myanmar national security adviser Thaung Tun told Reuters on Monday after a ministerial meeting on the crisis hosted by Britain on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.
“We want to make sure that everybody who needs humanitarian assistance gets it, without discrimination. That is one of the things we agreed on,” he said.
Nobel laureate Suu Kyi has faced a barrage of criticism from abroad for not stopping the violence. She is due to speak to the nation on Tuesday about the crisis, which the United States has described as a “defining moment” for Myanmar.
“We expect from Mrs Aung Sang Suu Kyi tomorrow a strong statement in this direction,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves le Drian told reporters in New York.
British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson hosted a ministerial meeting to discuss ways to resolve the Rohingya crisis, which included ministers from Turkey, Australia, Indonesia, Sweden and US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley.
“What we are trying to get everyone to agree is that, number one, the killings have got to stop, and the violence has got to stop. And we look not just to the military but also to Daw Suu to show a lead on that,” Johnson said before the meeting.
China, which, like the United States has worked to forge closer ties with Myanmar, a strategically important country in Southeast Asia, will not attend, a Chinese spokesman said, citing “a really packed calendar” for Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told Reuters ahead of the British meeting that a lasting political solution needed to be found for the Rohingya in Myanmar.
