OIC seeks to bring Myanmar under accountability

Secretariat Correspondent: Gambia, a small West African country, wants to bring Myanmar under accountability for its committed crimes and atrocities against Rohingya people.

For this, the country has proposed forming an ad hoc Ministerial Committee on Accountability for Crime Against Rohingya at the 54th foreign ministers conference of Organisation of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

The proposal was passed unanimously at the two-day long conference that began on Saturday in the capital Dhaka.

Gambian Foreign Affairs Minister ANM Ousainu Darboe placed the proposal on the open session of the conference on Sunday, held with Bangladesh Foreign Minister AHM Mahmood Ali in the chair.

Many of the OIC member countries, including Bangladesh, supported the Gambian proposal with some amendments to it.

State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam conducted the session addressed by foreign ministers and representatives of different OIC member countries.

As chairman of the session, Mahmood Ali said Bangladesh signed a number of agreements, including framework agreement for Rohingya repatriation but now Myanmar is not accepting refugees.

"We're ready to send them...they've to be in their houses, we're waiting for building and other facilities," he said.

In the open session, Sudan also put up a proposal for establishing a fund for Rohingya orphans with a name like "OIC Fund for Orphan of Rohingya" for taking care of the children who lost their parents in atrocities in Rakkhaine state of Myanmar.

Dr Wakar Uddin, Director General of Arakan Rohingya Union, a US-based umbrella organisation of Rohingyas, also addressed the session as a guest where he urged the OIC and other international organisations and countries to keep up the pressure on Myanmar for a peaceful political solution to it.

He alleged that Myanmar army has been master in time buying tactics in delaying the repatriation of the displaced Rohingya people driven out from Rakkhaine.

He urged the OIC to play an effective role in bringing the perpetrators responsible for the atrocities and crimes committed against Rohingya people to the justice.

At the session, all the member states applauded Bangladesh for its role in sheltering 1.1 million Rohingya people displaced by the Myanmar authorities.

Former foreign minister Dr. Dipu Moni addressed the session as Bangladesh representative and thanked all the nations for their support to Bangladesh over the Rohingya issue.

Representatives of Indonesia, Pakistan, Malaysia and Egypt also spoke at the conference.


risingbd/Dhaka/May 6, 2018/Hasan/AI