Arakan News Agency
The Permanent Representative of Kuwait to the United Nations Ambassador Mansour Al-Otaibi said that the Security Council wants to send a strong message that it is determined to end the suffering of Muslims in the Arakan state of Myanmar.
This came after UN Security Council envoys, including Ambassador Al-Otaibi, met with Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday after visiting the Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh.
“There are difficulties in talks between Bangladesh and Myanmar on the return of refugees, but it is important to create conditions for refugees to return freely and voluntarily to their home country,” he told reporters.
She asked the Security Council to press Myanmar to repatriate hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims who had fled Myanmar. “They should put more pressure on the Myanmar government to bring their compatriots home, that’s what we want,” she said.
“They want to go home so the Security Council can play a very pivotal role,” she said.
Myanmar and neighboring Bangladesh agreed in January to complete the plan for the voluntary repatriation of refugees within two years, but the differences between the two sides remain on the return plan.
In November, the Security Council asked Myanmar to ensure that “excessive use of military force and freedom of movement and equal access to basic services and equal access to full citizenship are not allowed.”
Kuwait, Britain and the Republic of Peru are leading the Security Council delegation on an official field visit to Bangladesh and Myanmar to learn about the situation of the Muslim minority of Rohingya and their humanitarian crisis, which the United Nations called “ethnic cleansing of Rohingya Muslims.”
