KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -- Malaysia and Indonesia will provide temporary shelter to thousands of ethnic Rohingya stranded on overcrowded boats, even as the Southeast Asian nations asked the international community to share responsibility for the groups fleeing Burma.
The countries will help 7,000 asylum-seekers still at sea and have identified potential areas to house them, Malaysian Foreign Minister Anifah Aman said after a meeting with his Indonesian and Thai counterparts Wednesday near Kuala Lumpur. Thailand didn't agree to take part. All three countries have recently turned boats away.
"We understand the dire humanitarian circumstances of the crisis," Anifah said. "Therefore, we are allowing them into our waters immediately including those in high seas and in particular women and children."
The treatment of Rohingya Muslims, who are denied citizenship in majority-Buddhist Burma and have had their homes and businesses attacked, has led tens of thousands to flee. The asylum-seekers are trying to reach Malaysia and Indonesia as a crackdown on overland smuggling rings by Thai authorities forces them to travel by sea.
Malaysia sent boats carrying Rohingya and Bangladeshis out of its waters last week after more than 1,000 undocumented travelers arrived on its shores earlier this month. Indonesia has allowed some to land, and the Philippines has offered to take in some.
Travelers will be allowed in as long as the international community arranges for their repatriation or resettlement within a year, Anifah said. Rohingya asylum-seekers can enter Indonesia and have been allowed to board the country's naval ships, said navy Chief of Staff Adm. Ade Supandi.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said Wednesday that it welcomed the commitment to resolve the issue of refugees and migrants stranded in boats on the seas of Southeast Asia.
"It is now urgent for people to be brought ashore without delay," the agency said. "UNHCR agrees with the ministers that further action will be needed. This includes addressing root causes. It will need to take into account looking properly at the needs of those in need of international protection."
The refugee agency said it was ready to work with countries in the region to find solutions, which may include returning people to their home states voluntarily once conditions allow.
Burma said it's making "serious efforts" to prevent the exodus from Rakhine state. The government has denied any conflict in Rakhine and said the issue was one of human trafficking.
Burma is often called Myanmar, a name that ruling military authorities adopted in 1989. Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other regime opponents have refused to adopt the name change, as have the U.S. and Britain.
While the U.N. and Western governments have called for Burma to do more to protect minority groups, members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations have avoided directly criticizing it.
The Thai government will hold a meeting on the crisis May 29 in Bangkok. It will be attended by senior officials from 15 affected countries, including Australia, Indonesia and Vietnam, its foreign ministry said.
The U.S. is willing to take in Rohingya refugees as part of the international efforts, the State Department said Wednesday.
Spokesman Marie Harf said that since Oct. 1, the U.S. has resettled more than 1,000 Rohingya. Last year, the U.S. accepted nearly 70,000 refugees from around the world.
"I think the Malaysians and the Indonesians have requested some help resettling people. We're taking a careful look at the proposal," Harf said. "It has to be a multicountry effort. We obviously can't take this all on ourselves. But we are prepared to play a leading role in this effort."
Deputy Secretary of State Anthony Blinken will visit Burma today and urge it to cooperate with Bangladesh to help people who are adrift.
Turkey also has agreed to provide help, announcing it is donating $1 million to the International Organization for Migration and the U.N. refugee agency to help ease the crisis.
The Foreign Ministry announcement Wednesday came a day after Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Turkey was doing its best to reach the Rohingya through the International Organization for Migration and a Turkish navy ship in the region.
Information for this article was contributed by Manirajan Ramasamy, Shamim Adam, Sharon Chen and Chris Blake of Bloomberg News; and by Matthew Pennington and staff members of The Associated Press.
A Section on 05/21/2015