US pledges $32 million for Rohingya refugees

The United States will provide nearly $32 million in humanitarian assistance to Rohingya Muslims displaced by sectarian violence in Myanmar.

The announcement by the US Department of State comes a day after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said she did not expect US President Donald Trump to help her with the hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees who have escaped to Bangladesh.

The aid will address the needs of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh as well as those internally displaced in Myanmar’s troubled Rakhine state, the state department said in a statement on Wednesday.

The new funding brings US humanitarian aid for refugees and displaced persons to nearly $95 million in the current fiscal year. “It reflects the US commitment to help address the unprecedented magnitude of suffering and urgent humanitarian needs of the Rohingya people.”

The aid is announced amid the gathering of world leaders for the UN General Assembly in New York.

Hasina, attending the sessions, had brought up the refugee crisis after she stopped Trump while he was leaving an event he hosted at the UN. Hasina later told Reuters that "he didn't make any comment about refugees."

But their brief interaction would be followed by US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's first-ever phone call to Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar's de facto leader who is not attending the UNGA.

US Ambassador Marcia Bernicat praised Bangladesh's response to the crisis after meeting Disaster Management Minister and Relief Minister Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya on Wednesday.

"I am very pleased to announce that the United States will be providing an additional $28 million to help support the Rohingyas here in Bangladesh. We will also be providing an additional $3.5 million for supporting the Rohingyas who are internally displaced in Myanmar, the idea being that these citizens should be supported where they are, in their own country.”

"That is in addition to … we don’t have an exact figure yet but we expect another $4 to $5 million in food aid that will be provided through the USAID. We don’t have an official number for that yet."

"The minister updated us on the amazing efforts that are going on here, yet again by the people and government of Bangladesh who welcomed the Rohingya people who have been arriving here in record numbers over such a short period of time."

"It’s been heart-rending to see the conditions under which the Rohingyas are arriving here but absolutely heart-warming to see the response they have been given including by the local community," said Bernicat.

Earlier, Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud set up $15 million fund for Rohingya Muslims. A spokesperson for the kingdom said it was sending a special team for an urgent assessment of refugee camps in Bangladesh.

South Korea also pledged $1.5 million to be disbursed for emergency relief through the International Organisation for Migration or IOM. Over 400,000 refugees from the stateless Muslim minority have arrived in Bangladesh to escape a violent army operation in northern Rakhine.

They have been living in makeshift camps in Cox’s Bazar, a southeast district that had already been housing approximately 400,000 Rohingyas Muslims from past violence in Buddhist-majority Myanmar.