Red Cross leader: Rohingya crisis needs political solutions

The international Red Cross leader today said that humanitarian help alone will not solve the Rohingya refugee crisis and inclusive political solutions are needed for the 700,000 people who fled from Myanmar to Bangladesh to escape violence that targeted them.

The United Nations has said the Myanmar military crackdown on Rohingya Muslims last August in retaliation for an insurgent attack was "ethnic cleansing."
Maurer said their return would require "steps towards ensuring freedom of movement, access to basic services, freedom to undertake economic activity and access to markets in Rakhine, and most importantly trust in security arrangements for returnees."
He said that while he was in Myanmar, he met Muslims, Buddhists and Hindus, who described "how the social fabric and local economy have been destroyed, making people entirely reliant on humanitarian aid."