WASHINGTON (CNS) — A prominent bishop has called on the U.S. government to provide humanitarian assistance to the Rohingya Muslims who have fled Myanmar while under attack.
Bishop Oscar Cantu of Las Cruces, N.M., chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on International Justice and Peace, urged the administration Sept. 22 to aid Rohingya and the countries providing refuge to them, saying those fleeing the ethnic violence have “experienced so much suffering and pain over decades.”
His letter was the latest in Catholic leaders’ appeals to help the Rohingya, who have fled a military crackdown in Myanmar’s Rakhine state.
The crackdown followed the Aug. 25 attacks by Rohingya insurgents on 30 security checkpoints.
Ucanews.com reports the number of Rohingya Muslims fleeing to Bangladesh from persecution in Myanmar has slowed but could still be as high as half a million, even as reports suggest Muslim villages in northern Rakhine were burning as late as Sept. 21. Officially, about 430,000 Rohingya have entered Bangladesh since the military crackdown.
Bishop Cantu’s letter to Rear Adm. Garry E. Hall, special assistant for international organizations and alliances at the National Security Council, also appealed for “durable solutions and protections to address the growing Rohingya crisis” and the possible resettlement of some non-Rohingya refugees for whom relocation is “the most viable solution.”
The situation of the Rohingya in Myanmar was “complicated by long-standing ethnic divisions in a country where the military still exercises significant influence over governance and the economy,” Bishop Cantu wrote.
He asked that the U.S. government “use its influence to promote a resolution to the long-standing conflicts in Burma (Myanmar) that have led to such violations of human rights of these minorities.”
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