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17 September 2024

Can Muhammad Yunus Support Rohingya Refugees?

Michael Kugelman

The highlights this week: Interim Bangladeshi leader Muhammad Yunus grapples with increasing Rohingya refugee arrivals, Sri Lanka gears up for its presidential election this month, and renewed political tensions erupt in Pakistan.

Dhaka Confronts Rohingya Challenge

This week, Muhammad Yunus, the head of Bangladesh’s interim government, called for the expedited resettlement of Rohingya refugees to third countries. Bangladesh hosts nearly 1 million Rohingya today, many of whom fled military violence in Myanmar in 2017; many reside in massive refugee camps in the city of Cox’s Bazar.

Intensifying conflict in Myanmar has likely prompted Yunus’s urgency: Around 8,000 Rohingya refugees have crossed the border into Bangladesh in recent months, according to Bangladeshi officials.

The Rohingya issue is one of many daunting policy challenges for Yunus and the interim government, which is also grappling with restoring law and order following the forced resignation of Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina last month, stabilizing a sputtering economy, and initiating large-scale institutional reforms. But Bangladesh has a fighting chance at addressing the refugee crisis, in large part because of Yunus himself.

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