US To Provide Bangladesh $60Mln To Help Rohingya Refugees - State Department

The United States has announced $60 million in humanitarian assistance to Bangladesh to help Rohingya refugees from Myanmar, State Department spokesperson Robert Palladino said in a press release on Friday

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th February, 2019) The United States has announced $60 million in humanitarian assistance to Bangladesh to help Rohingya refugees from Myanmar, State Department spokesperson Robert Palladino said in a press release on Friday.

"This funding will help address the emergency needs of more than 900,000 refugees in Bangladesh, most of whom are Rohingya women and children from Burma [Myanmar], and the related needs of Bangladeshi host communities," Palladino said.

The funding is a part of UN Joint Response Plan for Bangladesh, he said.

Palladino said the United States continues to call on others to join in contributing to this humanitarian response.

The State Department spokesperson also urged Myanmar to create the conditions for the safe return of forcibly displaced persons.

Rohingyas, a Muslim minority in Myanmar, have been fleeing their homes to avoid waves of violence following the government's deployment of police and military units in response to an attack by Rohingya insurgents on security posts in Rakhine state on August 25, 2017.

According to the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), more than 745,000 Rohingya refugees have fled from Rakhine state to Bangladesh since August 2017, escaping violence in Myanmar and joining roughly 200,000 others already displaced there.