Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Wednesday said that the United States (US) would “likely” start taking Rohingyas from Bangladesh to its territory with “a few numbers” on Thursday.
They have listed 62 Rohingyas for the first phase. Among them, they are likely to take few on December 8, he said, talking to reporters after his meeting with visiting US Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration Julieta Valls Noyes at Foreign Service Academy.
He, however, said there is nothing to be excited about in this news. “It’s just a drop in the ocean,” he said since Bangladesh is hosting over 1.1 million Rohingyas.
“But it’s a good move. Washington has also decided to take some Rohingyas from Bangladesh every year,” he said, adding that the government of Bangladesh wants to see “better life” for the Rohingyas.
The foreign minister, earlier, urged the US to take at least one lakh Rohingyas as the density of people is much lower in the US compared to Bangladesh.
The US assistant secretary thanked the Bangladesh government for its life-saving support for the Rohingya and discussed the safe return, livelihood and third country resettlement of the displaced Myanmar people.
The US assistant secretary arrived in Dhaka on Saturday on a five-day official tour of Bangladesh to visit Rohingya camps in Cox's Bazar and Bhashanchar. She left Bangladesh for Thailand on Wednesday.
Rohingyas fled ‘ethnic cleansing’ in the Rakhine State and took shelter in Cox’s Bazar.
Bangladesh tried to arrange safe, sustainable and voluntary return of the Rohingya to Rakhine State through negotiations with Myanmar following the bilateral instruments.
But not a single Rohingya could return to Myanmar yet for the non-committal attitude of Myanmar towards their obligation enshrined to the bilateral mechanisms.