United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guteress assured Bangladesh of the highest cooperation from the UN in dealing with the

Finance Minister AMA Muhith has met United Nations’ Secretary General Antonio Guteress and pressed for a safe zone for Rohingya refugees.

Driving south from Cox's Bazar along the marine drive, it is impossible not to be struck by the beauty of the sea on the right and the hills on the left. But before long a few lost and disoriented-looking faces appear until eventually the highway is lined with thousands of them.

An estimated 12,000 Rohingyas crossed into Bangladesh yesterday as severe food crisis and violence in Myanmar have triggered a fresh exodus. Besides setting fire to Rohingya homes in Rakhine State, the Myanmar army and local Buddhists are burning shops, markets and even crops fields, claimed the newly arrived refugees.

One week after a meeting with a senior minister from Myanmar, Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali yesterday said Dhaka has not agreed to Naypyidaw's proposal of following the principle and criteria of the 1992 deal to take back the forcibly displaced Myanmar national's population.

Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader says the government led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is working for repatriation of the Rohingyas who entered Bangladesh to save their lives facing violence by Myanmar Army.

Bangladesh government will be giving cholera vaccines to Rohingyas fearing an outbreak of the disease, Health Minister Mohammad Nasim says.

At least 14 Rohingya people, including 11 children, die after a boat carrying them capsized in the Naf River in Teknaf upazila of Cox's Bazar.

As Bangladesh and Myanmar have agreed to draw up a plan for the return of Rohingyas, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal is expected to visit the neighbouring country this month to discuss the refugee repatriation, among other issues of bilateral interest.

Endless streams of Rohingyas have crossed the Naf River into Bangladesh. The deaths of children at sea stand out most vividly. Rohingyas have left behind everything they had once known in the face of the Myanmar military's brutalities against their own people.

Four-year-old Nur Khan cringes in fear whenever he sees someone unknown near his shack in Ukhia of Cox's Bazar. When he comes across anyone holding any object, he shudders. There's a reason for that: five weeks ago, the child witnessed both his parents being brutally murdered.

Despite Myanmar's assurances that it is stopping the exodus of Rohingyas, members of the minority group continue to stream towards Bangladesh fleeing violence in Rakhine State.

The United Nations braced yesterday for a possible "further exodus" of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar into Bangladesh, UN humanitarian aid chief said.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said Bangladesh will surely make great strides in development, despite the huge influx of Myanmar nationals.

Bangladesh yesterday said presence of nearly one million Rohingya refugees in its territory has the potential to destabilise South Asia

The traditions of Myanmar's hermitage, of which the Burmese military remains a purveyor, sometimes come to the fore in awkward ways.

In her address to the 72nd United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said, “I have come here with a heavy heart...after seeing the hungry, distressed and desperate Rohingyas from Myanmar, who took shelter in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh.”

Dhaka's call to involve the United Nations in the negotiations on Rohingya repatriation is a well-judged one. Bangladesh must also insist that Myanmar agrees to a multilateral agreement. Myanmar had earlier opted for a bilateral solution.

The United Nations “suppressed” its own report that criticised its strategy in Myanmar and warned that the global body was ill-prepared to deal with the imminent Rohingya crisis, the Guardian reported yesterday. The review, submitted by a consultant in May, offered a highly critical analysis of the UN's approach and said there should be “no silence on human rights”.

Two senior United Nations officials, who wrapped up their mission in Bangladesh, have said the appalling situation for the hundreds of