DHAKA, Feb 8: The United States wants Mynamar to stop hounding Rohingya Muslims, a stateless minority from the former Burma’s northwest region, Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher said on Sunday.

“It’s a matter of concern and the US wants that Myanmar stops the persecution of Rohingyas,” Boucher said during a visit to Bangladesh.

He said attention had been drawn to the plight of the boat people landing in Thailand and Indonesia over the past weeks.

“The US was aware of the fleeing of Rohingyas from Myanmar for persecution and economic reasons,” Boucher told a news conference before leaving Bangladesh after a two-day visit.

The plight of Myanmar’s estimated 800,000 Rohingya, has been in the headlines since reports of serial abuse of the migrants by the Thai military.

According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), 230,000 Rohingya now live a precarious, stateless existence in Bangladesh, having fled decades of abuse and harassment at the hands of Myanmar’s military rulers.

Indonesia last week detained 198 Rohingyas after finding them floating in a boat off the coast of Aceh. They had been at sea for 21 days.

Last month the Thai army admitted towing hundreds far out to sea before abandoning them, but insisted they had food and water and denied reports the boats’ engines were sabotaged.

—Reuters