News Digest

Malaysia orders rescue of migrants as Myanmar hosts envoy talks

Malaysia ordered search and rescue missions Thursday for thousands of boatpeople stranded at sea, as Myanmar hosted talks with US and Southeast Asian envoys on the migrant exodus from its shores. The rescue order, which is the first proactive official move to save the thousands of persecuted Muslim Rohingya and Bangladeshi economic migrants believed currently to be adrift, comes a day after Malaysia and Indonesia said they would end a policy of turning away boats. Indonesian foreign ministry spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir told AFP his country had not made a similar order but the issue was “something that will be discussed.”

We have to prevent loss of life.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak

Meanwhile, Malaysia and Indonesia’s foreign ministers met Myanmar officials in Naypyidaw for talks late Thursday, where the fate of the Rohingya people remains an incendiary issue. Indonesia’s foreign ministry said in a statement Myanmar had agreed to “strengthen measures to prevent the irregular movement of migrants” from its territory and would also send officials from their embassy in Jakarta to visit boatpeople who had recently landed in the Aceh region. There was no comment from the Myanmar side on the outcome of talks.