FOREIGN DIGNITARIES/HUMAN RIGHTS/MYANMAR/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The United States needs to raise pressure on Myanmar to resolve a massive refugee crisis following what many officials and human rights researchers around the world believe was an act of genocide, a top foreign diplomat urged this week. In an interview with POLITICO in Washington, Foreign Minister A.K. Abdul Momen of Bangladesh also called on President Donald Trump, whom he called a ‘magic man,’ to abandon his desire to limit immigration to the United States, noting that the country was built on the ‘toil and blood’ of expatriate communities…Bangladesh has been dealing with an influx of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslim refugees since late August 2017, when a crackdown by the Myanmar military killed numerous members of the long-persecuted minority group and forced others to flee their homes. Bangladesh has tried to push Myanmar, also known as Burma, to take the refugees back. But Myanmar’s pledges to do so have failed to result in anything significant. And many of the Rohingya are refusing to return, fearing even more persecution from a country that has stripped them of their citizenship and legal rights for decades.”
–Nahal Toosi, “Bangladeshi diplomat: Trump is a ‘magic man,’ but shouldn’t build the wall,” Politico, April 10, 2019 2:43 pm