Bangladesh says Rohingya outflow 'untenable', seeks solution

GENEVA: Nearly one million Rohingya refugees who have fled violence in Myanmar are now in Bangladesh, which is an “untenable situation”, Bangladesh told a U.N. meeting on Monday.

Shameem Ahsan, Bangladesh’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, told a donors meeting that his country was pursuing efforts with Myanmar to find a “durable solution” to the crisis. But Myanmar continued to issue “propaganda projecting Rohingyas as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.”

More than 600,000 Rohingya have crossed the border since Aug. 25, when coordinated Rohingya insurgent attacks on security posts sparked a ferocious counteroffensive by the Myanmar army.

The United Nations says killings, arson and rape carried out by troops and ethnic Rakhine Buddhist mobs since late August amount to a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya.

Civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has no control over the military, has pledged that anyone sheltering in Bangladesh who can prove they were Myanmar residents can return.