Myanmar’s Suu Kyi sends envoy to Bangladesh as Rohingya crisis deepens

YANGON/DHAKA: A special envoy of Myanmar’s leader Aung San Suu Kyi will begin top-level talks in Bangladesh on Wednesday, as the United Nations said the Rohingya crisis prompted 65,000 people to flee Myanmar for Bangladesh in the past three months.

Kyaw Tin, Myanmar’s deputy minister of foreign affairs, will make a three-day visit to the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka, in a rare diplomatic foray to tackle the biggest challenge facing Nobel Peace laureate Suu Kyi’s nine-month old administration.

The stream of new refugees, and reports that Myanmar’s navy has shot at Bangladeshi fishermen, have further tested historically strained ties between the neighbours, who each see the stateless Rohingya Muslims as the other side’s problem.

The visit marks a shift away from Myanmar’s reluctant approach to cooperation with its western neighbour, which analysts see as key to solving the growing crisis.

Rohingya insurgents attacked Myanmar border posts on Oct. 9, killing nine police. In response Myanmar sent the army into the Muslim-majority northern part of Rakhine State.