Rohingya Refugees: Jakarta offers to help Dhaka

Offering to help Bangladesh on the Rohingya refugee issue, Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi yesterday said the humanitarian crisis in Rakhine State of Myanmar must end.

"This humanitarian crisis shall be ended," she said in a media statement after meeting Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at the Gono Bhaban in the evening.

Retno Marsudi, who flew to Bangladesh at 12 noon yesterday for a 10-hour trip following her talks with Myanmar national leader Aung San Suu Kyi, said she was tasked by Indonesian President Joko Widodo to visit Bangladesh to convey three things.

"One is to convey the sympathy of Indonesia to the burden of Bangladesh on the refugee issue. Second one is to convey Indonesia's readiness to support in easing the burden of the government of Bangladesh and the third was to discuss the situation on the ground," she said.

Marsudi said Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina agreed in principle to take Indonesia's support. "We will continue to discuss what sort of support Indonesia will give."

The visiting foreign minister, who left Dhaka last night, told reporters that she had an in-depth discussion with the Bangladeshi leadership about the situation on the ground and conveyed Indonesia's sympathy to Bangladesh over the refugee issue.

Marsudi did not take any questions after her nearly two minutes press statement at Pan Pacific Sonargoan Hotel.

The foreign ministry had announced a joint press briefing by Bangladesh and Indonesian Foreign Minister but as there was no one from the Bangladeshi side to speak with her at the venue, she made the statement on her own.

Earlier in the afternoon, Marsudi had a meeting with her Bangladeshi counterpart, Foreign Minister AG Mahmood Ali, at State Guesthouse Padma.

The Indonesian foreign minister last visited Bangladesh on December 20, 2016 when there was a discussion with the Bangladeshi authorities on finding a lasting solution to the Rohingya crisis.