A top envoy of the United Nations on Myanmar on Tuesday said Myanmar was not ready for taking back Rohingya people of the country from Bangladesh.
‘Myanmar is not ready for taking back Rohingya people,’ said Christine Burgener, a special envoy of the UN secretary general on Myanmar, in a meeting with foreign secretary M Shahidul Haque at the foreign office, according to diplomatic sources.
Christine Burgener was visiting Dhaka after a 10-day tour of Myanmar from July 9-18. A mid-level UN official was also accompanying her during the visit to Dhaka.
Foreign secretary Shahidul in the meeting wanted to know the reasons behind making unsubstantiated statement by Christine Burgener in Myanmar on July 18 implicating that Bangladesh was not sending Rohingya people to Myanmar.
Burgener replied that she was not well aware of the preparations of Bangladesh authorities in this regard.
A senior Bangladesh diplomat told New Age on Tuesday evening that they found Christine Burgener ‘over confident about the narratives presented by the Myanmar government.’
In addition to her meetings with top Myanmar officials including State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, representatives of civil society, think-tanks, eminent personalities and INGOs, the UN country team and the diplomatic corps, Christine Burgener also visited camps of IDPs (internally displaced persons) in Myebon and Sittwe in Rakhine, according to statement released by UN Information Centre in Yangon on July 18.
But the Myanmar authorities did not take her to villages destroyed during atrocities committed by Myanmar military and their cohorts over the years, officials said.
Burgener admitted in her meeting with Shahidul Haque that her movement was restricted by the Myanmar authorities in certain areas in Rakhine.
She regretted that for instance in Myebon, where over 80 per cent of the IDPs have citizenship, their freedom of movement remained very limited. She underlined the need to overcome issues of security and divisions within and between the communities, according to UNIC in Yangon.
She also gave importance on creating harmonious cohabitation within Myanmar and contributing to conditions that would allow for the return of IDPs and refugees in safety, dignity and of their own free will to the places of their choice.
She also urged the Myanmar government to stand strong against discrimination, hate-speech and the misuse of religion for political reasons.
UN secretary-general António Guterres appointed Christine Schraner Burgener, a diplomat of Switzerland, as his special envoy on Myanmar in April 2018.
Source: New Age.
