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Rohingya issue to dominate OIC ministers’ meet in city

Govt to start relocating refugees to island in June

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Rohingya crisis will get prominence as foreign ministers from the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) countries descend on the capital in early next month for talks.

The Conference of Foreign Ministers (CFM) will be held in Dhaka on May 05-06.

Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali disclosed this to the heads of all diplomatic missions and international organisations in Dhaka on Thursday.

He was briefing them about the preparations for the 45th OIC CFM at the State Guest House Padma. The theme of the CFM is "Islamic Values for Sustainable Peace, Solidarity and Development".

Issues related to massive humanitarian crisis with forced displacements from and to the Muslim countries, which is seriously affecting rights and dignity of the Muslim minorities such as the Rakhine Muslims of Myanmar, will be discussed in several sessions in the council, the minister reportedly told the diplomats.

Mr Ali also told the diplomats that a visit to the makeshift camps in Cox's Bazar sheltering Rohingyas from Myanmar will be organisd for the heads of delegations and international organisations.

The foreign minister apprised them that the issues to be discussed at the conference include the situation in Palestine, challenges facing the Muslims, in general, such as the conflicts, division, tension and instability in the ummah.

Apart from the problems of terrorism and violent extremism, sectarian violence, hatred, prejudice and Islam phobia will be discussed in the conference.

Issues of persistent poverty, socio-economic backwardness of Muslim societies and the protection of their rights and fundamental freedom will also get priority, the minister said.

A total of 52 representatives from different missions attended the briefing.

The decision to hold the conference in Dhaka was made during Meeting of 44th foreign minister' conference of OIC held in Abidjan, Ivory Coast in July last year.

Meanwhile, AFP reports adds Bangladesh will begin relocating around 100,000 Rohingya refugees to a desolate island off its southern coast in June despite warnings the site is prone to violent weather.

Authorities say shelters for around 50,000 refugees have been constructed at Bhashan Char, a silty strip of land that only emerged from the Bay of Bengal in 2006.

The remaining shelters will be completed within two months, Bangladesh's disaster management secretary Shah Kamal told UN agencies during a briefing about the controversial plan in Dhaka.

"It will begin in the first week of June," Kamal said of the relocation project that has attracted fierce criticism since being first proposed in 2015.

"We're building accommodation for 100,000 people," he told AFP, adding the navy would construct more than 1,440 large shelters to house the refugees by May 31.

The navy is also filling in low-lying areas and building embankments around the entire perimeter to ensure the island can resist tidal flooding and monsoon storms.

Bangladesh, a low-lying riverine country at risk from rising sea levels, is prone to tropical cyclones and 120 evacuation shelters are also being constructed on the island, Kamal said.

Bangladesh allocated $280 million last November to make the island suitable for habitation as hundreds of thousands of refugees from Myanmar crammed into squalid camps near the border.

Nearly 700,000 Rohingya have crossed into Bangladesh since August alone, fleeing army violence in Rakhine state.

Kamal said refugees most vulnerable to the approaching monsoon would be offered the chance to relocate to the small island, which lies west of the port city of Chittagong.

The process would be voluntary, he added.

The UN says 150,000 Rohingya in the camps were at risk of landslides, heavy rains and diseases when the monsoon season hits in June.

UN resident coordinator Mia Seppo said Bangladesh wanted to start the process in June but said more discussion was needed.

"That is the timeline they are looking at," Mia Seppo told AFP, adding any relocation must be "voluntary" and conducted safely and with dignity.

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