Bangladesh Recalls Myanmar Envoy Amid Rebel Contact Fallout

[geovalin]

MOI

 

Bangladesh has recalled its ambassador from Myanmar, deepening diplomatic tensions following Dhaka’s confirmation that it has opened communication channels with a rebel army fighting Myanmar’s military junta.

 

Ambassador Monowar Hossain, stationed in Naypyidaw since mid-2023, was instructed to return to Dhaka immediately, according to a Bangladeshi foreign ministry official who called it an "administrative decision" without elaborating.

 

The move follows last week’s admission by Bangladesh’s National Security Adviser, Khalilur Rahman, that the government has engaged in informal talks with the Arakan Army—an ethnic armed group active in Myanmar’s western Rakhine state—in an effort to stabilise the border region.

 

The Arakan Army has been engaged in fierce conflict with Myanmar’s ruling junta, which seized power in a 2021 coup. Myanmar has not officially responded to the diplomatic withdrawal, and junta spokespeople have so far remained silent.

 

Relations between the two countries have long been strained by the Rohingya refugee crisis. More than 1.2 million Rohingya Muslims have fled Myanmar’s military crackdown, with many now living in overcrowded camps in southern Bangladesh. Dhaka reports that over 130,000 more people have crossed the border in the past year alone.

 

The humanitarian situation in Rakhine is worsening, with the United Nations warning of widespread hunger and displacement, raising fears of another mass exodus. Rahman said Bangladesh continues to engage both the junta and international agencies to find a long-term resolution, including exploring a U.N.-led humanitarian corridor in the conflict-hit region.

 

However, Bangladesh’s military has voiced concern. “The army will not be involved in any activity that compromises the country’s security,” said Colonel Shafiqul Islam, in response to the corridor proposal.

 

While Dhaka maintains that its outreach to the rebels is aimed solely at ensuring border stability, the rare diplomatic move of recalling an ambassador suggests a recalibration of strategy as tensions mount both within Myanmar and along its volatile frontier.

 

-2025-05-30

[Sydebolle]

Well, the Burmese call the Rohingyas the "Bengali" and I learnt on my trips to Rakhine state's capital Sittwe, that this avalanche of Bengalis were moving out of Southeastern Bangladesh into Myanmar for greener pasture. The Saudis have poured hundreds of millions of dollars into Bangladesh to secure the grooming of Islam. 

In the past, there were +/- 10% of Muslims in Rakhine; this has meanwhile doubled. The sovereignty of Myanmar became undermined and hence Myanmar reacted by pushing back those Bengalis back to where they came from. Needless to say, that the Myanmar Armed Forces completely overreacted and turn Northwestern Rakhine into a slaughter field of staggering proportions. 

Bangladesh and some Bengali leaders when - quite right so - to the public to seek assistance in this genocide yet nobody to this day ever suggested the Bengali to return "home". If their "home" is a <deleted> place, then it is up to them to improve the situation rather than "fleeing" to greener pastures. Obviously Dhaka could not care less, where those Bengali would disappear to. 

The recalling of the Bangladeshi head of mission "for consultations" (that's what the diplomats actually call it) is rattling the cage. The world had it up to its neck with Myanmar, Rohingyas and Bangladesh and it is yet to be seen, where all this goes. Clear is also, that the illegal government of Myanmar, the Tadmadaw, likewise could not care less, if the Bangladeshi mission has an ambassador or is run by a Charge d'affaires.