Bangladesh has secured borders to check further Rohingya influx: foreign minister

Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen today confirmed that Bangladesh has secured its border with Myanmar to check further influx of Rohingyas following the military coup in the neighbouring country.

"We have secured our border (to stop potential Rohingya influx)," he told reporters at his office today. However, the foreign minister also included that Dhaka is not suspecting further Rohingya influx. "Some friendly countries fear that rest of the Rohingyas would flee to Bangladesh from Rakhine (as military took over in Myanmar)," he added.

Momen said Dhaka is willing to continue talks with Myanmar on advancing the Rohingya repatriation. On January 19, the secretary level tripartite meeting among Bangladesh, China and Myanmar decided to hold the next joint working group meeting on February 4 for advancing the repatriation discussion. However, the scheduled meeting is uncertain since Dhaka is yet to officially communicate with Myanmar following the coup.

Bangladesh is hosting over 1.1 million Rohingya refugees in Cox's Bazar, who fled Myanmar facing military crackdown, often considered as "ethnic cleansing" by many rights groups.