BANGKOK (AFP) — The UN has agreed with Myanmar to extend its activities in a region from which hundreds of Muslim boat people recently fled, the world body said after its refugee chief toured the military-ruled nation.
Antonio Guterres, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), left Myanmar on Thursday after a six-day visit focusing on areas near the Bangladesh border where ethnic minority Rohingya migrants live.
Hundreds of Rohingyas were rescued in Indonesian and Indian waters earlier this year after they fled Myanmar but were then towed out to sea by Thai security forces when they tried to land in the neighbouring kingdom.
Rights groups say scores more are feared to have died.
Guterres "came to the conclusion that UNHCR?s current level of activities in northern Rakhine State does not correspond to the actual needs and a decision was taken to upgrade the programme with immediate effect", a UN statement said late Thursday at the end of his visit.
The statement said he visited Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine state, the region where most Rohingyas live. He also travelled to the port town of Myeik where many of the migrants are thought to have departed.
Guterres later met senior Myanmar officials including the ministers of foreign affairs and of home affairs and immigration in the capital Naypyidaw, it said.
"The extension of UNHCR?s programme for the population of northern Rakhine State was agreed, bringing to a positive conclusion discussions that had been taking place with the government in this regard," it added.
The Rohingyas are denied citizenship under the laws of mainly Buddhist Myanmar and rights groups say they face official repression and poverty. Thousands more are living in refugee camps in Bangladesh.
Myanmar's senior official in Hong Kong last month described the Rohingya boatpeople as "ugly as ogres" and insisted that they should not be described as being from his country.
The UN had previously expressed concern after photographs apparently showing the Thai army towing migrants in boats out to sea and lining Rohingya men up on a beach were published in the international media this year.
Thailand has denied the accusations, while insisting the problem of illegal migration to its shores must be dealt with regionally.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which includes Myanmar and Thailand, is set to discuss the issue at a regional forum against people-smuggling on April 14-15.
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