Rohingya refugees welcome US calling repression genocide

By JULHAS ALAM
Associated Press

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh’s sprawling camps have welcomed an announcement by the U.S. calling the repression on the minority group in Myanmar a genocide.  As news of the announcement by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spread across the sprawling camps in Cox’s Bazar district that are now home to about 1 million Rohingya, many residents expressed their enthusiasm. Blinken said the U.S. made the determination based on confirmed accounts of mass atrocities on civilians by Myanmar’s military in a widespread and systematic campaign against the Rohingya. The director of the Centre for Genocide Studies at the University of Dhaka said the declaration was “a positive step,” but it would be important to see what actions and “concrete steps” follow.