00:00You met on Bangladesh. Bangladesh is free at the cost of hundreds of lives under the chute
00:06on site ordered by autocratic Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, but the situation is still unclear.
00:12Students, leaders, opposition parties, and the army are trying to form a civilian government.
00:17Could you please provide more insight into the U.S. position?
00:22So as I said, a few things. Number one, our condolences, of course, go out to those who
00:27have been hurt in the violence over the past few weeks. We are focused now on supporting an end to
00:34the violence and for accountability. All decisions regarding the interim government should be made
00:41with respect to democratic principles, rule of law, and the will of the Bangladeshi people.
00:45Yeah. As you said, accountability. If Sheikh Hasina flees to India and she is trying to
00:51get any of the Western countries, will you allow her to come into the U.S. as she commits
00:58a crime against humanity largely? I'm not aware of any request of that nature.
01:08We already know the Bangladeshi government led widespread violence and callous. What measure
01:15is the U.S. State Department or U.S. taking to address the reported atrocities against minorities
01:22and general populace in Bangladesh? So a few things. Number one, I have made – as I made clear,
01:27what we are calling for today is an end to the violence and for accountability. Now,
01:33as to what accountability looks like, that's something that should take place
01:36under Bangladeshi law. Obviously, anyone responsible for acts of violence,
01:41acts that break the law, should be held accountable for them.
01:43Thank you so much. Mike.
01:45Yeah, go ahead. Matt, thanks. During the time that
01:50Bangladeshi people struggled against that fascist ruler and thousands of people got killed,
01:56you already informed us that she fled the country this morning.
02:00I didn't inform you that. I think – Okay. You said it. Okay.
02:03I said we've seen the announcement she resigned. Okay. She resigned. Okay. After she left,
02:08there is a – dozens of dead bodies are pulling out from the Gonovoban, the official residence of
02:14prime minister. There's dozens of dead bodies are pulling out next to the parliament. There's
02:19lots of atrocities are taking place by the government official, those who are still in power,
02:25especially a couple of people. Army Chief of Staff General Wakaru Zaman, he was involved
02:31with genocide. Navy Chief Admiral Mohammad Nazmul Hassan, he was involved with the genocide.
02:38Air Chief Marshal Hassan Mahmoud Khan, they were involved with the genocide. And they're the same
02:43people are saying, we are going to the president and form a caretaker government. So as a matter
02:49of fact, when was the last time we heard a killer is going to do the justice for another killer?
02:54So let me say a few things. Number one, with respect to the violence over the past few weeks
03:00and the deaths that have occurred, it is vital that we have full and transparent investigations
03:06to ensure accountability for these deaths. Second, as it relates to the interim government,
03:11as I made clear in my opening remarks, we think that it's important that we focus on the
03:16Bangladeshi people's democratic aspirations and see a path to democratic governance.
03:23Does America support Bangladesh military to install a caretaker government?
03:28We want to see the Bangladeshi people decide the future of the Bangladeshi government.
03:33Janneke. Oh, yeah. Yeah, go ahead. Go ahead.
03:36Just have there been any – has there been any contact, as far as you know,
03:39with Bangladeshi officials, be it in the military or in the former government?
03:44I don't have any to report today. There may have been contacts from our embassy,
03:48but I'm not aware of any. I don't have any to announce.
03:50And just also in terms of some U.S. issues with Bangladesh, the issue of the Rohingya,
03:53of course, has been something that's been quite important between the U.S. and Bangladesh. Do you
03:58– is there any concern that this would impact the housing of the Rohingya refugees?
04:02So I think, as you know, the United States has provided – I'm going to try to do the number
04:07from memory here – I think it's around $2 billion to assist with refugees in Bangladesh. And
04:15I don't have any immediate comment on how this change of government might affect those programs.
04:20I would certainly hope that it wouldn't. We think it's important that Bangladesh continue to provide
04:26hospitality to those refugees, and we'll continue to work with them to do so.
04:31And Bangladesh –
04:32No, hold on. Guys, hold on. Simon, did you have a –
04:35Yeah, well, Sean asked most of my questions, but I did want to ask on – is there ongoing
04:43assistance to Bangladesh, both in terms of humanitarian aid that will continue and also
04:51military – will military assistance continue, given, I guess, there's – this is not a coup,
04:55but there's questions over the transfer of power?
04:57Yeah. So certainly with respect to the kind of allusion in the last part of your question,
05:06so we've seen – all that we know right now is we've seen the announcement from the government
05:09that she resigned. We don't have any further information about how that resignation may
05:13have taken place. With respect to – and that goes to the question, obviously, of financial support.
05:19So with respect to financial support, in fiscal year 2023, the United States provided over $212
05:25million in bilateral economic development and health assistance to Bangladesh. Obviously,
05:31this – I don't have any announcements with respect to those programs, other than that we
05:34would like to see them continue because they're important to our relationship with the people
05:39of Bangladesh. And just to confirm the question Sean answered, it was we provided nearly 2 billion
05:46humanitarian assistance to support Rohingya refugees since August of 2017.
05:51Sure. Can I just take just another question on that? Just taking a step back a little bit,
05:55I mean, how do you actually feel about the army's role? How does the United States feel? Do you think
05:59that they were productive in this? Is there any concern that an interim role could become more
06:03than an interim role as well? So let me answer that two ways. One,
06:07with respect to their role over the past several days, we have seen the reports that the army
06:13resisted calls to crack down on the protesters. And if those reports are true, certainly
06:19that is something that we would encourage. We don't – we made clear, I think, for several
06:23weeks now that people have a legitimate right to protest and to peacefully assemble, and we
06:29opposed any kind of violent crackdown. So if it is true, in fact, that the army resisted calls
06:34to crack down on lawful protesters, that would be a positive development.
06:41With respect to where we go from here, what we want to see is democratic order. We want to see
06:48the Bangladeshi people choose their own government, and that's what we'll be looking for in the days
06:52and weeks ahead.
