Visits Cox’s Bazar to see Rohingyas
Lisa Curtis, deputy assistant to US President Donald Trump, arrived here yesterday morning on a three-day official visit to discuss bilateral issues, including security and the Rohingya crisis.
Lisa, senior director for South and Central Asia of the National Security Council in the White House, later travelled to Cox’s Bazar, an official told UNB.
She will see the Rohingya situation on the ground.
According to diplomatic sources, she is likely to meet Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali, PM’s Security Adviser Maj Gen (retd) Tarique Ahmed Siddique and Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haque during her visit.
US Ambassador in Dhaka Marcia Bernicat has said the US administration has been “very vocal and critical” about Myanmar over the Rohingya issue.
She said the US administration was very strongly behind Bangladesh.
The diplomat on Wednesday said the Rohingya crisis was not losing world attention as the international media were still giving focus and good coverage on the matter. “I don’t think international attention and support are going to fade regarding the Rohingya issue.”
She said her government and the international community were looking for ways to help improve the situation and ensure the safe return of Rohingyas to their homes in Myanmar.
“Their [Rohingyas] desire is consistent that they want to go to their homes and their homes are in Myanmar. The world is working now to ensure their safe return in a dignified manner.”
Bangladesh and all its friends were working to mount pressure on Myanmar to resolve the problem and create a situation so that Rohingyas could go to their homes, the US envoy added.
During his visit to Washington, Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haque met Lisa Curtis on February 16. The two discussed bilateral, regional and global security issues.
Lisa conveyed President Trump’s deep appreciation for Bangladesh for hosting more than a million Rohingyas forcibly displaced from Myanmar.
She was a senior research fellow on South Asia in The Heritage Foundation before joining the White House where she used to focus on US national security interests and regional geopolitics as senior research fellow on South Asia.
Source: The Daily Star
It is not clear if she has any level of leverage to exercise political or other types of pressure on Myanmar. Her level in the chain of bureaucracy is quite low. We should not be too hopeful.