The international community is slowly stepping forward with offers of assistance to help alleviate Southeast Asia’s migrant crisis.
On Wednesday, Malaysia and Indonesia agreed to provide temporary shelter to the estimated 7,000 migrants stranded at sea. However, both countries insisted that the migrants would need to be resettled elsewhere by the international community within a year.
The United States stepped forward Wednesday, saying it is willing to take in some Rohingya refugees as part of the international efforts.
State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said the US is prepared to take a leading role in any multi-country effort to resettle the most vulnerable refugees. The United Nations refugee agency is organising the effort.
Since October 1, the US has resettled more than 1,000 Rohingya Muslims, who face discrimination in Burma.
Harf told reporters that the US welcomes a decision by Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand to provide humanitarian assistance and shelter to 7,000 migrants stranded at sea.
US Deputy Secretary of State Anthony Blinken will visit Burma Thursday and urge it to cooperate with Bangladesh in helping migrants who are adrift.
Meanwhile, Gambia’s government says it is willing to resettle some of the migrants.
“As human beings, more so fellow Muslims, it is a sacred duty to help alleviate the untold hardships and sufferings these fellow human beings are confronted with,” the presidency said in a statement late Tuesday.
Gambia called on “all countries with a conscience to assist in bringing the Rohingya to The Gambia for resettlement.”
Yahya Jammeh, the president of tiny Gambia in Africa, has been accused of violently cracking down on his political opponents. He also has threatened to decapitate gays and lesbians who live there.
Turkey says it is donating $1 million to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the UN refugee agency to help ease Southeast Asia’s migrant crisis and is exploring ways of organizing a humanitarian aid operation to reach Rohingya Muslims and Bangladeshis stranded at sea.
The Foreign Ministry announcement on Wednesday came a day after Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Turkey was doing its best to reach the Rohingya through the IOM and a Turkish navy ship in the region.
More than 3,000 people – Rohingya Muslims fleeing persecution in Burma and Bangladeshis escaping poverty – have landed in overcrowded boats on the shores of Southeast Asian countries.
Aid groups estimate thousands more are stranded at sea following a crackdown on human traffickers that prompted captains to abandon their boats. Efforts are already underway to bring the remaining stranded migrants ashore.
