Image copyright Reuters Image caption More than 740,000 Rohingya are living in refugee camps in Bangladesh

Bangladesh has told the UN Security Council it will stop accepting any more Rohingya Muslims who flee from Myanmar.

Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haque accused Myanmar of "hollow promises" during negotiations over returns.

More than 740,000 Rohingya are in camps in Bangladesh after they were driven out of Myanmar's Rakhine state during military crackdowns in 2016 and 2017.

The UN describes the crisis as ethnic cleansing. Myanmar denies persecuting the Rohingya, a stateless minority.

The latest row comes despite a deal between Bangladesh and Myanmar in January 2018 to repatriate Rohingya refugees.

Myanmar had agreed to accept 1,500 Rohingya each week, Bangladesh said at the time, adding that it aimed to return all of them to Myanmar within two years.

Speaking at Thursday's meeting of the UN Security Council, Mr Haque said his country could not accept more refugees.

"Not a single Rohingya has volunteered to return to Rakhine due to the absence of conducive environment there," he said.

"Is Bangladesh paying the price for being responsive and responsible in showing empathy to a persecuted minority population of a neighbouring country?"

Myanmar's ambassador to the UN, Hau Do Suan, appealed for patience, speaking of "huge physical as well as psychological barriers" in repatriating Rohingya.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Rohingya Muslims displaced from Tula Toli village in Rakhine State gave disturbing accounts to BBC Newsnight

"It takes time and patience as well as courage to build trust and confidence among different communities in Rakhine," the diplomat added.

Meanwhile, the UN envoy to Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener said progress in returning Rohyngya to Myanmar was "slow".

She also said that Myanmar authorities had given UN agencies "insufficient" access to help repatriate Rohingya.</s>Bangladesh told the United Nations Security Council on Thursday that it cannot take any more refugees from Myanmar, some 18 months after more than 700,000 mainly Rohingya Muslims started pouring across the border fleeing a military crackdown.

Attacks on security posts by Rohingya insurgents in Myanmar's Rakhine state were followed by an extreme crackdown that the United Nations, the US, Britain and others describe as ethnic cleansing. Myanmar denies the accusations.

"I regret to inform the council that Bangladesh would no longer be in a position to accommodate more people from Myanmar," Shahidul Haque, the Bangladesh Foreign Secretary, said.

Mr Haque accused Myanmar of "hollow promises and various obstructionist approaches" during negotiations on returns.

"Not a single Rohingya has volunteered to return to Rakhine due to the absence of conducive environment there," Haque said.</s>Bangladesh has told the United Nations Security Council that it cannot take in any more Rohingya refugees.

Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haque told the body Thursday: "I regret to inform the council that Bangladesh would no longer be in a position to accommodate more people from Myanmar."

He accused Myanmar of making "hollow promises and various obstructionist approaches" in the negotiations to return the Rohingyas to Myanmar.

"Is Bangladesh paying the price for being responsive and responsible in showing empathy to a persecuted minority population of a neighboring country?" Haque asked. "Not a single Rohingya has volunteered to return to Rakhine due to the absence of conducive environment there."

Hau Do Suan, Myanmar's ambassador, said his country needs more time in its efforts to repatriate the Rohingyas. He asked the council to consider the "huge physical as well as psychological barriers" in the process of returning the Rohingyas. "It takes time and patience as well as courage to build trust and confidence among different communities in Rakhine."

British Ambassador Karen Pierce said, "We are very disappointed that there hasn't been more progress on getting the refugees back." She added: "The scale of what has been done to the Rohingya Muslims and the allegations of crimes against humanity really mark this out as one of the most terrible events of this century so far."

Russia and China, unlike the Western members of the council, believe that it is up to just Myanmar and Bangladesh to craft a solution for the return of the Rohingyas.

More than 720,000 Rohingya refugees have fled to Bangladesh since August 2017 to escape persecution and violence in Myanmar. Because of previous refugee crises in Myanmar, Bangladesh currently is home to nearly one million Rohingya refugees.

The United Nations has praised the country’s generosity and has appealed to the authorities to continue to allow people fleeing violence in Myanmar to seek safety in Bangladesh.

Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, is a predominantly Buddhist country. It has a long history of tension with its ethnic minorities, much of it based on religion. Southern Chin State is the only State in Myanmar with a Christian majority. It also is the poorest and least developed region in the country.

The large Rohingya Muslim population in Rakhine State continues to suffer discrimination and repression from the majority Buddhist community. Though they have lived in Myanmar for generations, the Rohingya are denied citizenship and remain stateless.</s>Bangladesh told the United Nations Security Council on Thursday that it cannot take any more refugees from Myanmar, some 18 months after more than 700,000 mainly Rohingya Muslims started pouring across the border fleeing a military crackdown.

Attacks on security posts by Rohingya insurgents in Myanmar’s Rakhine state triggered the crackdown that the United Nations, the United States, Britain and others describe as ethnic cleansing. Myanmar denies the accusations.

“I regret to inform the council that Bangladesh would no longer be in a position to accommodate more people from Myanmar,” Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haque said.

Haque accused Myanmar of “hollow promises and various obstructionist approaches” during negotiations on returns.

“Not a single Rohingya has volunteered to return to Rakhine due to the absence of conducive environment there,” Haque said.

Myanmar says it has been ready to accept returning refugees since January, but the United Nations says conditions are not yet right for their return. The Rohingya say they want guarantees over their safety and to be recognized as citizens before returning.

Western powers on the council on Thursday lamented the lack of action from Myanmar’s government.

“We’re very disappointed … that there hasn’t been more progress on getting the refugees back and that obviously includes creating the conditions where the refugees feel able to go back,” British U.N. Ambassador Karen Pierce told the council.

Several council members from western countries stressed that the return of refugees needed to be safe, voluntary, dignified and secure, and pushed for the Myanmar government to allow the United Nations widespread and unconditional access to Rakhine.

UN envoy to Myanmar Christine Schraner-Burgener told the Security Council that U.N. access was currently “insufficient.”

“The scale of what has been done to the Rohingya Muslims and the allegations of crimes against humanity really mark this out as one of the most terrible events of this century so far,” she said.

The 15-member Security Council has been split over how to deal with the crisis, with western powers pitted against Russia and Myanmar ally China. China’s Deputy U.N. Ambassador Wu Haitao said it was mainly an issue between Myanmar and neighboring Bangladesh “and as such it is up to the two countries to work out a solution.”

In December Britain circulated a draft resolution to council members that diplomats said aims to put a timeline on Myanmar allowing the return of refugees and addressing accountability, but China and Russia have boycotted talks on the draft.

Deputy U.S. Ambassador Jonathan Cohen said: “The international community cannot ignore the world’s largest refugee camp.”</s>Bangladesh has told the UN it cannot accept any more refugees from Myanmar, the first time the country has threatened to close its borders to Rohingya fleeing violence.

Bangladesh is now sheltering more than a million Myanmar refugees in camps, some 700,000 of whom have poured over the border in the past 18 months having fled a military-led crackdown in Rakhine state where thousands were killed, women were raped and villages razed.

Speaking to the UN security council on Thursday, Bangladesh foreign secretary Shahidul Haque said: “I regret to inform the council that Bangladesh would no longer be in a position to accommodate more people from Myanmar.”

Most of the Rohingya arrived in Bangladesh between August and December 2017 in the midst of the brutal campaign of violence the UN has described as ethnic cleansing and possible genocide. However, last year about 16,000 Rohingya crossed the border to Bangladesh, fleeing ongoing abuses. A UN envoy stated last year there was still an “ongoing genocide” in Rakhine.

Nonetheless, this year arrivals have slowed, with organisations reporting some weeks with no refugees crossing the border.

Bangladesh was lauded for its willingness to keep its borders open and welcome the hundreds of thousands of refugees with open arms. However Haque said the situation in Cox’s Bazar – where the millions of mainly Rohingya refugees are living in what has become the world’s largest refugee camp – was now untenable and had gone from “bad to worse”.

“Is Bangladesh paying the price for being responsive and responsible in showing empathy to a persecuted minority population of a neighbouring country?” Haque said.

In particular Haque expressed his frustration with both the UN security council and the international community at the lack of concrete action to solve the crisis. He accused Myanmar of trying to shift the blame by accusing Bangladesh of harbouring terrorists when in fact the Bangladesh government had “a zero-tolerance policy” in this regard.

Haque was joined in his condemnation of Myanmar’s failure to take steps towards repatriation of Rohingya by envoys from western governments including the UK and the US. “We are very disappointed that there hasn’t been more progress on getting the refugees back,” said British ambassador Karen Pierce.

Initial attempts to begin a repatriation process for the Rohingya last year failed spectacularly after Myanmar failed to provide assurances to the refugees that they would be safe from violence, be allowed to return to their original homes, have freedom of movement and be given a pathway to citizenship in Myanmar, which Rohingya were stripped of in 1974. As a result, the thousands of Rohingya listed for return refused, and many went into hiding.

As Haque pointed out to the UN security council, “not a single Rohingya has volunteered to return to Rakhine due to the absence of a conducive environment there”.

However, Myanmar’s ambassador, Hau Do Suan, was on the defensive, emphasising that there were “huge physical as well as psychological barriers” to overcome before repatriation could begun.

“We are confident that we can make the repatriation plan a success if we both act strictly in compliance with the agreements,” he said.</s>(UNITED NATIONS) — Bangladesh’s foreign secretary said Thursday his country will need to stop accepting more refugees from Myanmar and accused its government of being “obstructionist” about bringing back more than 1 million Rohingya Muslims who have fled violence.

Myanmar, meanwhile, continued to insist it is taking steps toward their return. Its ambassador appealed for patience from the U.N. Security Council, but several members complained about what they saw as lagging progress nearly a year after a council delegation traveled to see the crisis firsthand.

After a renewed flare-up in violence in Myanmar’s northern Rakhine State, new refugees are still crossing the border to Bangladesh, Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haque said.

“As far as repatriation is concerned, the situation has gone far from bad to worse,” he told the council, adding that his country “would no longer be in a position to accommodate more people from Myanmar.”

He didn’t say when that might occur.

More than 700,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh since August 2017, when Rohingya militants attacked Myanmar security forces in Rakhine, triggering a massive military retaliation that U.N. investigators have called genocide. The exodus came after hundreds of thousands of other Rohingya escaped previous bouts of violence and persecution.

Most people in Buddhist-majority Myanmar don’t accept the Rohingya Muslims as a native ethnic group. They are, instead, viewed as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, though generations of Rohingya have lived in Myanmar.

Nearly all have been denied citizenship since 1982 and lack access to education and hospitals.

The U.N. General Assembly approved a resolution in December strongly condemning “gross human rights violations and abuses” committed against Myanmar’s Rohingya.

Myanmar’s government denies claims of genocide and ethnic cleansing. The country rejects the U.N. investigators’ work and the General Assembly resolution as biased.

Myanmar has made agreements with Bangladesh and U.N. agencies to repatriate the Rohingya, but it hasn’t happened.

A plan for refugees to begin returning last November was scrapped because officials couldn’t find anyone willing to go. Myanmar had said it was ready to receive them, but U.N. officials, human rights activists and others had called for waiting until the refugees’ safety in Myanmar could be assured.

The Bangladeshi foreign secretary said Thursday his country had “tried everything” with Myanmar but met with “hollow promises and various obstructionist approaches.”

He urged the Security Council to visit the Rohingya refugee camps again and set up “safe zones” for people of all backgrounds in conflict-torn parts of Myanmar.

Myanmar’s U.N. ambassador said his country was taking steps to facilitate the Rohingya’s return. The envoy, Hau Do Suan, pointed to three dozen small-scale community projects planned “as soon as the security condition permits” and to a recent investment fair meant to generate development in Rakhine.

“We seek your understanding of the practicality and possibilities on the ground,” Hau told the council, adding that building trust in Rakhine “takes time and patience, as well as courage.”

The Rohingya crisis has been a sensitive subject in the council, where Myanmar’s close ally China is among members with veto power. The council did visit Myanmar and Bangladesh last April and May, and members last summer urged stepping up efforts to enable the Rohingya to return.

Several countries on the council vented frustrations Thursday.

“The time has come for the government of Myanmar to assume its responsibility to protect its citizens” and for the council “to use all means at its disposal to make tangible progress,” said the Dominican Republic’s envoy, Jose Singer.

But Russia and China advised the group not to be strident.

“The international community should keep its patience,” Chinese Deputy Ambassador Wu Haitao said.</s>United Nations: Bangladesh told the UN Security Council on Thursday that it will no longer be able to take in refugees from Myanmar. Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haque told a council meeting that the crisis over the repatriation of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya sheltering in his country had gone from "bad to worse" and urged the council to take "decisive" action.

Around 7,40,000 Rohingya Muslims are living in camps in Bangladesh after they were driven out of Myanmar's northern Rakhine state during a military campaign in 2017 that the United Nations has described as ethnic cleansing. "Here, I regret to inform the council that Bangladesh would no longer be in a position to accommodate more people from Myanmar," said Haque.

Under a deal reached with Bangladesh, Myanmar agreed to take back some of the refugees, but the United Nations insists that the safety of the Rohingya be a condition for their return. "Is Bangladesh paying the price for being responsive and responsible in showing empathy to a persecuted minority population of a neighbouring country?" asked the foreign secretary.

After five trips to Myanmar, UN envoy Christine Schraner Burgener reported: "Slow progress" in efforts to help hundreds of thousands of Rohingya return home and warned that Myanmar's elections next year could worsen the crisis. The Swiss diplomat, who was appointed in April as UN envoy for Myanmar, said UN agencies had been given "insufficient" access to help prepare the return of the Rohingya. Myanmar's Ambassador Hau Do Suan insisted his government was taking steps and appealed for patience.

He spoke of "huge physical as well as psychological barriers" in the way of allowing the refugees' return and stressed that "it takes time and patience as well as courage to build trust and confidence among different communities in Rakhine." China, which has close ties with Myanmar's former military junta, insisted that development aid could help ease tensions in Rakhine and made clear the council should not get involved in addressing the refugee crisis. "It is up to the two countries to work out a solution," said Chinese Deputy Ambassador Wu Haitao.

In December, Britain circulated a draft resolution that would have forced Myanmar to roll out a strategy for addressing the Rohingya crisis, but China threatened to veto the measure, according to diplomats. "We are very disappointed that there hasn't been more progress on getting the refugees back," said British Ambassador Karen Pierce. "The scale of what has been done to the Rohingya Muslims and the allegations of crimes against humanity really mark this out as one of the most terrible events of this century so far," said Pierce.

The UN envoy warned that the election campaign "could add to the domestic complexities" in Myanmar, which is still struggling with a democratic transition after 50 years of military rule. Myanmar's de facto civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been criticised for failing to speak out to defend the Rohingya, is seeking to consolidate her position ahead of the 2020 vote. Myanmar's military dominates the Buddhist-majority nation, holding a quarter of seats in parliament and controlling three ministries, making their grip on power firm despite political reforms which began in 2011.

Firstpost is now on WhatsApp. For the latest analysis, commentary and news updates, sign up for our WhatsApp services. Just go to Firstpost.com/Whatsapp and hit the Subscribe button.</s>UNITED NATIONS
• Bangladesh has told the United Nations Security Council that it cannot take any more refugees from Myanmar, some 18 months after more than 700,000 displaced people - mainly Rohingya Muslims - started pouring across the border while fleeing a military crackdown.

Attacks on security posts by Rohingya insurgents in Myanmar's Rakhine state triggered the crackdown that the UN, the United States, Britain and others have described as ethnic cleansing. Myanmar denies the accusations.

"I regret to inform the council that Bangladesh would no longer be in a position to accommodate more people from Myanmar," Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haque said on Thursday.

Mr Haque accused Myanmar of "hollow promises and various obstructionist approaches" during negotiations on returns. "Not a single Rohingya has volunteered to return to Rakhine due to the absence of conducive environment there," he said.

Myanmar says it has been ready to accept returning refugees since January, but the UN says conditions are not yet right for their return. The Rohingya say they want guarantees over their safety and recognition as citizens before returning.

The Security Council's Western powers on Thursday lamented the inaction of Myanmar's government. "We're very disappointed... that there hasn't been more progress on getting the refugees back and that obviously includes creating the conditions where the refugees feel able to go back," Britain's UN ambassador Karen Pierce told the council.

Several Western council members stressed that the return of refugees needed to be safe, voluntary, dignified and secure, and pushed for Myanmar's government to grant the UN widespread and unconditional access to Rakhine. UN envoy to Myanmar Christine Schraner Burgener told the council that UN access was insufficient, describing what had been done to the Rohingya as representative of "one of the most terrible events of this century so far".

The 15-member council has been split over how to deal with the crisis, with Western powers pitted against Russia and Myanmar ally China.

China's Deputy UN ambassador Wu Haitao said it was mainly an issue between Myanmar and neighbouring Bangladesh "and as such it is up to the two countries to work out a solution".

In December, Britain circulated a draft resolution to council members that diplomats said aims to set a timeline for Myanmar to allow the return of refugees and address accountability, but China and Russia have boycotted talks on the draft.

Deputy US ambassador Jonathan Cohen said: "The international community cannot ignore the world's largest refugee camp."

Meanwhile, in Malaysia, 34 Rohingya refugees swam ashore after their boat was abandoned at sea off the northern state of Perlis. Villagers at Sungai Belati beach in Sungai Baru town awoke to weak, hungry and dishevelled Rohingya refugees arriving on the shore, including children as young as seven, New Straits Times reported yesterday. They are believed to be victims of a human trafficking syndicate.</s>Bangladesh has told the UN Security Council it will stop accepting any more Rohingya Muslims who flee from Myanmar.

Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haque accused Myanmar of "hollow promises" during negotiations over returns.

More than 740,000 Rohingya are in camps in Bangladesh after they were driven out of Myanmar's Rakhine state during military crackdowns in 2016 and 2017.

The UN describes the crisis as ethnic cleansing. Myanmar denies persecuting the Rohingya, a stateless minority.
• What awaits the Rohingya back in Myanmar?

The latest row comes despite a deal between Bangladesh and Myanmar in January 2018 to repatriate Rohingya refugees.

Myanmar had agreed to accept 1,500 Rohingya each week, Bangladesh said at the time, adding that it aimed to return all of them to Myanmar within two years.

What did Bangladesh tell the UN?

Speaking at Thursday's meeting of the UN Security Council, Mr Haque said his country could not accept more refugees.

"Not a single Rohingya has volunteered to return to Rakhine due to the absence of conducive environment there," he said.

"Is Bangladesh paying the price for being responsive and responsible in showing empathy to a persecuted minority population of a neighbouring country?"

Myanmar's ambassador to the UN, Hau Do Suan, appealed for patience, speaking of "huge physical as well as psychological barriers" in repatriating Rohingya.

"It takes time and patience as well as courage to build trust and confidence among different communities in Rakhine," the diplomat added.

Meanwhile, the UN envoy to Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener said progress in returning Rohyngya to Myanmar was "slow".
• Seeing through the official story in Myanmar
• What you need to know about the crisis

She also said that Myanmar authorities had given UN agencies "insufficient" access to help repatriate Rohingya.</s>Bangladesh's foreign secretary says his country will need to stop accepting more refugees from Myanmar, and he says its government is being "obstructionist" about bringing back more than 1 million Rohingya Muslims who have fled violence.

Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haque spoke Thursday at the U.N. Security Council, where Myanmar insisted it's taking steps toward the refugees' return.

Ambassador Hau Do Suan appealed for patience from the council. But several members complained about what they saw as lagging progress.

Haque said his country "would no longer be in a position to accommodate more people from Myanmar." He didn't say when that might occur.

More than 700,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh since August 2017, when Rohingya militants attacked Myanmar security forces in Rakhine and triggered a massive military retaliation.
Bangladesh's Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haque tells the United Nations Security Council that his country will no longer accept Rohingya refugees fleeing violence across the border in Rakhine State, and accuses Myanmar of "hollow promises" regarding repatriation.