Doha: Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani met Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi and her delegation at Emiri Diwan yesterday.
Marsudi briefed the Emir on efforts of Indonesia and Malaysia to tackle the issue of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar and Bangladesh and provide them with support, including shelter, as a temporary solution.
The Emir ordered a donation of $50m from Qatar to Indonesia to help it cover costs of hosting the Rohingyas.
The meeting reviewed relations between both countries and matters of mutual interest.
Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand have prevented vessels overloaded with starving migrants from Bangladesh and Myanmar’s ethnic Rohingya minority from landing on their shores.
Indonesia and Malaysia later responded to world pressure, saying they would no longer turn away migrant boats, offering to take in migrants provided they could be resettled or repatriated within a year.
But Thailand began a crackdown on smuggling following the discovery of mass graves there, which appears to have thrown regional human-trafficking routes into chaos.
International Organisation for Migration has appealed for $26m to help migrants in Southeast Asia.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo has indicated that Jakarta would need international help to foot the bill for housing thousands of destitute people.
Over 3,500 migrants have swum ashore or been rescued off the coasts of Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Bangladesh since the crisis erupted earlier this month.
Thousands of Rohingya fleeing persecution in mostly Buddhist Myanmar, along with Bangladeshis seeking to escape grinding poverty, are still believed to be at sea.
Myanmar’s government sees its 1.3 million Rohingyas as illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh, and denies most of them citizenship.
Agencies
