Myanmar has not denied Rohingya atrocities: Momen

Bangladesh is making every diplomatic effort to send Rohingya refugees back to Myanmar, which has “not denied charges of atrocities” in the world court, Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen has said.

“Myanmar did not deny carrying out atrocities. It only objected to the charges that genocide took place there,” he told an event in Dhaka on Thursday.

Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the country’s state counsellor and Nobel Peace laureate, defended the military rejecting accusations of genocide committed against the Rohingya Muslims as "incomplete and misleading" in the International Court of Justice hearings last month.

She challenged allegations in a lawsuit brought by Gambia accusing Myanmar of violating the 1948 Genocide Convention.

A 17-judge ICJ panel is set to render an order on the case "as soon as possible".

Momen was speaking at the inauguration of a photo exhibition, Flash on Rohingya Genocide, which will continue at the Shilpakala Academy until Jan 8.

He said the Rohingya refugees are twice the number of the local inhabitants of Cox’s Bazar, and claimed the crisis has triggered price hike, rise in dropouts and a lack of jobs in the southeastern district.

Foreign Minster AK Abdul Momen and other guests visiting ‘Flash on Rohingya Genocide’, a photo exhibition at the Shilpakala Academy in Dhaka after its inauguration on Thursday.

The government spent Tk 56.36 billion on tackling the refugee crisis, he said and added the

aid provided by other countries and international agencies was not enough.

Momen once again blamed Myanmar for the stalled process to repatriate the Rohingya, accusing the country’s government of spreading disinformation and showing no interest to take its nationals back.