Hasina seeks UN nudge on Rohingya

Dhaka: Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina asked the UN Security Council on Monday to press Myanmar to take back hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims who fled a military crackdown to take refuge in her country.

Security Council envoys visited Hasina in the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, before travelling to Myanmar for meetings with its government leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, and military Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing later on Monday.

"They should put more pressure on the Myanmar government so that they take their citizens back to their country. That's what we want," Hasina told reporters.

The visit by the security council envoys, to see the aftermath of a military operation in Myanmar's western Rakhine State, puts a global spotlight on the crisis which the United Nations and others have denounced as ethnic cleansing of Rohingya Muslims.

Myanmar denies the accusation, saying the military was engaged in a legitimate counter-insurgency operation.

Rohingya insurgent attacks on security posts in Rakhine State in August last year sparked the crackdown that, according to the UN and rights groups, sent nearly 700,000 Rohingya fleeing to camps in neighbouring Bangladesh.

Hasina said the refugees should return "under UN supervision where security and safety should be ensured".

"They want to go back to their own country. So the Security Council can play a very pivotal role," she added.

When asked if UN supervision meant the deployment of peacekeepers, Hasina said: "Not exactly, well, that the UN will decide".

Myanmar government spokesman Zaw Htay did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Social welfare minister Win Myat Aye, who is leading rehabilitation efforts in Rakhine, declined to comment.

Kuwait's UN ambassador Mansour al-Otaibi, one of the envoys, told Hasina the Security Council wanted to "send a clear strong message ... that we're determined to end this humanitarian crisis". Reuters