Rohingya Crisis: Dhaka expects move by OIC

In the upcoming 45th session of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Dhaka expects that the Council of Foreign Ministers to exert pressure on Myanmar for a sustainable solution to the Rohingya crisis.

"Rohingya crisis will get greater focus at the two-day conference beginning on Saturday [tomorrow] and there will be a special session on the issue," Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali said, as per The Daily Star.

A delegation of ministers and representatives of the OIC countries would visit refugee camps in Cox's Bazar on Thursday, he added.

A team consisting of foreign ministers and foreign secretaries from 38 countries is expected to visit the refugee camps. Over 700,000 Myanmar's Muslim Rohingyas are sheltered there after a military crackdown in Rakhine State.

Foreign Minister Ali and State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam are to accompany the delegation.

Foreign Minister Ali yesterday said, Rohingya crisis would be the focus of the talks including all the other humanitarian challenges.

"We'll discuss the possible ways to resolve the Rohingya crisis and intensify the efforts of the intentional community and the OIC member countries," as quoted by The Daily Star.

Ali said over 550 representatives of the OIC and different international organisations, including around 40 ministers and state ministers, are expected to attend the event.

This is the second time Bangladesh is hosting the council, under a democratic government. It was last conducted in 1983.

Meanwhile, the U.S. President Donald Trump in a letter to Bangladeshi Prime minister, Sheikh Hasina assured Bangladesh of continuing to mount pressure on Myanmar to repatriate Rohingya Muslims.

"The United States will continue to pressure Myanmar to create necessary conditions for the safe and voluntary return of the Rohingya people to their homeland," he said in the letter.