US official: Rohingya should be returned safely to Myanmar
DHAKA, Bangladesh — A U.S. official visiting Bangladesh said Saturday that Rohingya Muslims should be returned safely to their homes in Myanmar after they were forced to flee the country amid a brutal crackdown by Myanmar security forces.
Simon Henshaw, acting assistant secretary for the U.S. Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration, said the U.S. would continue to support Rohingya who have fled to Bangladesh because of persecution in Myanmar’s Rakhine state.
He said at a news conference in Bangladesh’s capital, Dhaka, that Myanmar must ensure a safe and stable environment so that the Rohingya can return home.
More than 600,000 Rohingya have crossed into Bangladesh since late August amid a crackdown that the U.N. has called “ethnic cleansing.”