The Indonesian foreign minister, Retno LP Marsudi, will arrive in Dhaka today to mediate between Bangladesh and Myanmar over the ongoing Rohingya crisis. The Indonesian foreign minister is scheduled to meet her Bangladeshi counterpart, Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali, at 4 pm, according to the public relation office of the foreign ministry. Also today, the Indonesian ambassador in Dhaka is scheduled to call on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at 10.30 am.

Before visiting Dhaka, Marsudi had gone to Myanmar yesterday to talk with leaders there. During her one-day visit to Myanmar, the Indonesian minister had met Myanmarese state counsellor and foreign minister

Aung San Suu Kyi. She had also met the Myanmarese commander-in-chief of defence services, Senior General U Min Aung Hlaing, minister at the President’s office U Kyaw Tint Swe and national security adviser U Thaung Tun.

Indonesian president Widodo had sent Marsudi to Myanmar and Bangladesh to hold “intensive talks” with the involved parties, including the United Nations.

In a statement, Widodo said the Indonesian foreign minister was sent to Myanmar to ask the Myanmarese government to stop and prevent violence, to provide protection to all citizens, including Muslims, in that country, and to give them access to humanitarian aid.

“Marsudi will also travel to Bangladesh to prepare additional aid for refugees there,” he added.

The treatment of Buddhist-majority Myanmar’s roughly 11 lakh Muslim Rohingyas is the biggest challenge facing Aung San Suu Kyi, who is being accused by Western critics of not speaking out for the minority community that has long complained of persecution.

Aid agencies estimate that about one lakh Rohingyas have fled to Bangladesh after fresh violence erupted in Myanmar last week.

On December 20, 2016, Marsudi had visited Dhaka and met Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to discuss the Rohingya issue.

The PM had told the Indonesian minister that the Rohingyas could not stay in Bangladesh and her government would not allow insurgents to launch cross-border attacks on the neighbouring country from its territory.

Hasina had also expressed hope that ASEAN member countries would help Myanmar to resolve the crisis in Rakhine through dialogue.