Japanese foreign minister visits Kutupalong Rohingya Camp

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono today visited the Rohingya camp in Kutupalong of Cox's Bazar today. 

He reached Kutupalong Rohingya Camp around 12noon, reports our local correspondent.

During the visit, Taro Kono said that the Japanese government is always beside Bangladesh to solve the crisis.

"The help and support of his government for the Rohingyas will be uninterrupted," he added.

He also talked to the Rohingya people living at the camp about their problems and demands to get an overview of the situation there.

One Rohingya youth Enamul Hasan, also a teacher at the camps, told the Japanese foreign minister that they do not want to be dependent on Bangladesh for a long time, adding that they want to go back to their country.

"We have only one demand, which is the citizenship of their own country Myanmar," he added.

The Japanese foreign minister arrived in Dhaka last night on a three-day visit.

He is scheduled to hold a bilateral meeting with his Bangladeshi counterpart AK Abdul Momen in the capital later.

Apart from the Rohingya issue, other matters related to further strengthening Bangladesh-Japan ties would also be discussed during the meeting between the two foreign ministers, reported BSS quoting officials concerned.

It is expected that Kono's Rohingya-focused visit will help expedite the ongoing efforts of commencing safe repatriation of Rohingyas to Myanmar, a Bangladesh foreign ministry official said.

The Japanese foreign minister will also visit Bangabandhu Memorial Museum in Dhanmondi to pay homage to Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

He will leave Bangladesh on Wednesday.

Some 750,000 Rohingyas fled atrocities in Myanmar's Rakhine State after August 25, 2017. In clashes between the Myanmar army and the Arakan Army since early this year, thousands more were displaced.