Staff Correspondent:

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday said they will do everything possible to ensure required funds for the Rohingya to avoid a situation in which people would suffer.

“I can promise that we’ll do everything to avoid it and I will be talking to all the countries in the world that can support us in order to make sure that funds are made available,” he told reporters at Balukhali Rohingya camp (Camp 18).

Guterres said they cannot accept that the international community forgets about the Rohingya, and his voice will speak loud to the international community.

The UN chief said they urgently need more support because this population badly needs that support to be able to live in dignity here in Bangladesh.

Guterres said Rohingyas want to go back to Myanmar. It’s essential that the international community does everything to make sure that peace is reestablished in Myanmar, and that the rights of the Rohingyas are respected, he said.

Guterres visited UN-run different facilities, including IOM’s Rohingya cultural memorial centre in Camp 18, Ukhiya.

Earlier, Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus and Guterres arrived here in Cox’s Bazar on Friday afternoon to attend a number programmes, including a tour to the Rohingya refugee camp.

Disaster Management and Relief Adviser Faruk E Azam Bir Protik received them upon their arrival at Cox’s Bazar International Airport.

The Chief Adviser will join the UN chief at the Rohingya camp before the iftar.

The UN chief will share an Iftar with the refugees to be hosted by Dr Yunus.

The UN chief and Dr Yunus will meet Rohingya refugees who have been forcibly displaced from their homes in Myanmar.

They will also meet the host Bangladeshi communities who have been so generous in hosting them.

“Every Ramadan, I spend time with Muslim communities living in difficult circumstances, to observe the fast with them and help shine a spotlight on their plight. This year I’m in Bangladesh to express my solidarity with Rohingya refugees and the Bangladeshi people hosting them,” Guterres said on his Ramadan solidarity visit.

Dr Yunus and Guterres are scheduled to return to Dhaka tonight (Friday).

In the morning, the UN chief had a bilateral meeting with Chief Adviser Dr Yunus and discussed the issues of mutual interests, including the Rohingya refugee crisis.

The meeting was held at the Chief Adviser’s Office in Tejgaon.

Foreign Affairs Adviser Md Touhid Hossain and Chief Adviser’s High Representative Dr Khalilur Rahman also met Guterres at a city hotel, before his meeting with the Chief Adviser.

On Saturday in Dhaka, the Secretary-General will meet the youth and representatives from civil society, said an official at the UN office in Dhaka.

He will also have a joint press conference with the Foreign Adviser Hossain on Saturday afternoon.

Guterres is scheduled to leave Bangladesh on Sunday morning.