British Foreign Secretary meets Suu Kyi

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson on Sunday met his Myanmar counterpart and de facto leader Aung Sang Suu Kyi here, a day after his visit to refugee camps in east Bangladesh sheltering around 690,000 Rohingya refugees.

In a statement ahead of the visit, the British Foreign Secretary said he would be "talking to State Counsellor Suu Kyi and other regional leaders about how we can work together to resolve this appalling crisis", reports Efe news.

On Saturday, Johnson visited Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh to hear first hand accounts of suffering by the members of the mostly Muslim minority at the hands of Myanmar security forces.

He described the current situation as "one of the most shocking humanitarian disasters of our time" and said his aim was to achieve a "safe, dignified return" for the Rohingya refugees.

Human rights organisations have documented widespread abuse by the Myanmar Army against the Rohingya, including murders and rapes, during its military campaign against the minority, which the UN has described as a "textbook example of ethnic cleansing".

The Myanmar Army denies the allegations, although in January it admitted to a case of extrajudicial killings of Rohingya, who were buried in a mass grave in Rakhine state where the minority has been living for centuries.

In November, Bangladesh and Myanmar signed an agreement to begin repatriating Rohingya refugees by the end of January, but Dhaka suspended it at the last minute.

Members of the mostly Muslim minority community are not recognized by Myanmar's authorities, who consider them Bengali migrants and refuse to grant them citizenship.

--IANS

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