Indonesia sends foreign minister to Myanmar

International Desk: Indonesian President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo on Sunday sent his foreign minister to Myanmar to urge its government to halt violence against Rohingya Muslims.

Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi arrived in Yangon before midnight Sunday and is expected to meet Myanmar's leader, State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi, later Monday in Naypyidaw.

Clashes between Rohingya insurgents and the Myanmar military broke out in the early hours of Aug 25 in Maungdaw in Myanmar's strife-torn Rakhine State when the militants attacked security outposts and police stations in the area, which is mostly populated by Rohingya Muslims.

"I have instructed the foreign minister to build intensive communications with various sides including UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and Mr Kofi Annan, chairman of the (Myanmar government-appointed) Rakhine Advisory Commission," Mr Jokowi told reporters late Sunday.

Expressing his regret over the clashes on behalf of the Indonesian people, Mr Jokowi said, "The violence must be stopped."

Mr Jokowi also instructed Mr Retno to fly to Dhaka on Tuesday to prepare humanitarian assistance for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.

The president made the statement only a few hours after an unidentified man threw a Molotov cocktail from a van at the Myanmar Embassy in Jakarta early Sunday.

Jakarta police spokesman Argo Yuwono said, however, that no one was hurt in the incident.

The widespread violence has claimed more than 400 lives, including 370 Rohingya Muslim insurgents, according to Myanmar's government.

An estimated 18,500 Rohingya -- a persecuted, stateless minority in Myanmar -- have fled the ongoing violence by crossing the border into Bangladesh, according to the International Organization for Migration.

Source: bangkokpost



risingbd/Dhaka/Sep 4, 2017/Nasim