Qatar to help Indonesia shelter Rohingya migrants
The wealthy Arab nation of Qatar on May 28 pledged $50 million to help Indonesia shelter Muslim Rohingya migrants from Myanmar, the official Qatar News Agency (QNA) news agency reported.
The move comes after in the past few weeks, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand have all prevented vessels overloaded with starving migrants from Bangladesh and from Myanmar’s ethnic Rohingya minority from landing on their shores.
Indonesia and Malaysia later responded to world pressure, saying they would no longer turn away migrant boats, offering to take in boat people provided they could be resettled or repatriated within a year. But Thailand began a crackdown on smuggling following the discovery of mass graves there, which appears to have thrown regional human-trafficking routes into chaos.
The aid pledge was announced by Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani as he met visiting Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi in Doha, who briefed him on “efforts by Indonesia and Malaysia in confronting the problem of refugees” from Myanmar and Bangladesh, QNA said.
He ordered a “donation worth $50 million from Qatar to the Indonesian government to help it cover costs of hosting the Rohingya” migrants.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo on May 24 indicated that Jakarta would need international help to foot the bill for housing thousands of destitute people. More than 3,500 migrants swam ashore or have been rescued off the coasts of Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Bangladesh since the crisis erupted earlier this month.
Thousands of Rohingya fleeing persecution in Myanmar, along with Bangladeshis seeking to escape grinding poverty, are still believed to be at sea. Myanmar’s government sees its 1.3 million Rohingya as illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh and denies most of them citizenship. Radical Buddhist monks in Myanmar have been staging anti-Rohingya street protests, stirring up religious tensions in the country.
The wealthy Arab nation of Qatar on May 28 pledged $50 million to help Indonesia shelter Muslim Rohingya migrants from Myanmar, the official Qatar News Agency (QNA) news agency reported. The move comes after in the past few weeks, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand have all prevented vessels overloaded with starving migrants from Bangladesh and from Myanmar's ethnic Rohingya minority from landing on their shores. Indonesia and Malaysia later responded to world pressure, saying they would no longer turn away migrant boats, offering to take in boat people provided they could be resettled or repatriated within a year. But Thailand began...
The wealthy Arab nation of Qatar on May 28 pledged $50 million to help Indonesia shelter Muslim Rohingya migrants from Myanmar, the official Qatar News Agency (QNA) news agency reported.
The move comes after in the past few weeks, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand have all prevented vessels overloaded with starving migrants from Bangladesh and from Myanmar’s ethnic Rohingya minority from landing on their shores.
Indonesia and Malaysia later responded to world pressure, saying they would no longer turn away migrant boats, offering to take in boat people provided they could be resettled or repatriated within a year. But Thailand began a crackdown on smuggling following the discovery of mass graves there, which appears to have thrown regional human-trafficking routes into chaos.
The aid pledge was announced by Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani as he met visiting Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi in Doha, who briefed him on “efforts by Indonesia and Malaysia in confronting the problem of refugees” from Myanmar and Bangladesh, QNA said.
He ordered a “donation worth $50 million from Qatar to the Indonesian government to help it cover costs of hosting the Rohingya” migrants.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo on May 24 indicated that Jakarta would need international help to foot the bill for housing thousands of destitute people. More than 3,500 migrants swam ashore or have been rescued off the coasts of Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Bangladesh since the crisis erupted earlier this month.
Thousands of Rohingya fleeing persecution in Myanmar, along with Bangladeshis seeking to escape grinding poverty, are still believed to be at sea. Myanmar’s government sees its 1.3 million Rohingya as illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh and denies most of them citizenship. Radical Buddhist monks in Myanmar have been staging anti-Rohingya street protests, stirring up religious tensions in the country.
