Trump tells Hasina US will continue pressuring Myanmar to take back Rohingyas

President Donald Trump has written to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina that the United States will keep up the pressure on Myanmar for the safe repatriation of Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh.

"The United States will continue to pressure Myanmar to create necessary conditions for the safe and voluntary return of the Rohingya people to their homeland," Trump said in the letter.

American Ambassador Marcia Bernicat handed the letter to Hasina when she met the prime minister at the Ganabhaban in Dhaka on Thursday, PM’s Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim told the media.

In the letter, the US president said those in Myanmar who instigated the Rohingya crisis must be held accountable.

Trump ‘highly’ appreciated Hasina for her humanitarian leadership role in addressing the Rohingya crisis, the press secretary said.

"The United States is deeply grateful to the government of Bangladesh for its generous humanitarian response to the Rohingya crisis," Trump said in the letter.

Sheltering more than one million Rohingyas was a ‘tremendous’ burden, he said, but “the world knows Bangladesh's actions have saved thousands of lives”, according to Karim.

"Your response is a testament to the character and resiliency of the Bangladeshi people, forged in the hardships they endured in 1971," Trump told Hasina.

The US remains committed to supporting Bangladesh alongside “our” international partners as the largest humanitarian assistance donor in the world.

"I hope Bangladesh continues to demonstrate the leadership that has resulted in recognition from around the world, particularly ahead of the challenging monsoon season," he added.

Karim said the prime minister thanked the President Trump for writing to her.

Hasina reiterated her call to the international community, including the US, to continue piling considerable pressure on the Myanmar government to take back its nationals.

The prime minister said the local people were suffering and the environment was being affected due to the exodus of a huge number of Rohingyas into Cox's Bazar.

Bernicat said the USAID had traditional programme for the assistance of the refugees across the globe and was working in Cox's Bazar under the UN system to mitigate the sufferings of the Rohingya refugees there.

She told the prime minister that USAID President Mark Green and CEO of the Carter Center and former ambassador Marry Ann Peters would visit Bangladesh soon to see the plight of the refugees.

The US envoy ‘highly’ appreciated women development and empowerment in Bangladesh under the leadership of Hasina and congratulated her  on receiving the Global Women's Leadership Award 2018.

The prime minister said the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman laid the foundation to women empowerment in Bangladesh through a raft of initiatives for their development after independence.

PM's Military Secretary Major General Mia Mohammad Zainul Abedin and PMO Secretary Sajjadul Hassan were present in the meeting.