The United States continues to exert pressure on Myanmar to take back the forcibly evicted Rohingyas who have fled to Bangladesh, Simon Henshaw, visiting acting assistant secretary of state for the US Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration, has said.  He praised Bangladesh, saying that a small country like Bangladesh has set a great example by providing shelter to a large number of people.

“We are by the side of Bangladesh at this critical time and always will be,” he added. Henshaw was visiting the Kutupalong Rohingya Camp in Ukhia of Cox's Bazar yesterday afternoon.

Earlier, a 22-member delegation reached the Cox's Bazar airport and visited the Rohingya camps. They saw the camp conditions and spoke to the refugees. They also visited the children school-camp run by the International Migration Organisation (IOM).  The other members of the delegation were the deputy commissioner of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Bureau, Scott Ashby, the acting deputy assistant secretary of South Asia and Central Asia, Tom Bhajda, and Patricia Mahoni of the Office of East Asia and Pacific Affairs Bureau.

The US team arrived in Dhaka to see the situation of the Rohingyas at the reugee camps. It will return to the US on November 4.

During their stay, they will discuss the human rights violations in Myanmar's Rakhine state and hold talks on increasing humanitarian assistance for the displaced Rohingyas.

The US delegation will also visit Myanmar to discuss the same issue and hold meetings with the diplomatic community in Myanmar, high-level government officials and NGO partners.

Sources said the team will seek permission from the Myanmar government so that relief agencies and journalists can operate unconditionally in Rakhine.