Envoys of 3 countries visit Cox’s Bazar Rohingya camp

The high commissioners of three Commonwealth countries have visited a Rohingya refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar.

Australian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Julia Niblett, British High Commissioner Alison Blake, and Canadian High Commissioner Benoit-Pierre Laramée visited Ukhiya’sKutupalang Rohingya refugee camp around 9:30am on Thursday.

They arrived in Cox’s Bazar on Wednesday afternoon and had a meeting with Additional Deputy Commissioner Kazi Abdur Rahman, who met the envoys on behalf of the deputy commissioner.

Earlier, a three-member team of Annan Commission visited the refugee camps in Ukhiya and Teknaf on January 29 and 30.

On January 31, a nine-member delegation, including US Ambassador Marcia Bernicat, visited the Rohingya camps.

An estimated 70,000 Rohingyas have fled to Bangladesh from Myanmar since the army began a massive anti insurgency operation in the Rohingya-dominated area in October.

Two senior UN officials dealing with refugees fleeing violence say more than 1,000 Rohingyas may have been killed in the crackdown.

The Myanmar government, led by Aung San Suu Kyi, has previously denied allegations of torture, rape, arson and killings by the army during the operation.

About 1.1 million Rohingya Muslims live in apartheid-like conditions in Myanmar, where they are denied citizenship. Many in the Buddhist-majority country regard them as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.