Myanmar gives OK to UN Security Council visit to check on Rohingya Muslims

Myanmar has given the go-ahead for a UN Security Council visit, the council president said on Monday.

On the same trip, the council plans to visit Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh, where nearly 700,000 Rohingya Muslims are living in camps after fleeing a brutal military crackdown in Rakhine State.

The 15-member council wants to visit Rakhine State, but the exact itinerary has not yet been set, Security Council president Gustavo Meza-Cuadra of Peru told reporters.

The trip is due to take place in April, while Peru holds the Security Council presidency, Meza-Cuadra said.

The visit has been in the works since February, but the council wasn't able to get approval from Myanmar's authorities until now.

The UN has accused the military of "ethnic cleansing" of the Muslim Rohingya minority in Buddhist-majority Myanmar.

Myanmar's authorities have so far blocked attempts for the UN-mandated fact-finding mission to investigate the situation on the ground.

In November, Bangladesh and Myanmar signed an agreement to repatriate Rohingyas and Myanmar's government has signalled that it is ready to do so, but UN officials have said the conditions are not right to send the refugees back as their safety cannot be guaranteed.

As monsoon season approaches in Bangladesh, the Bangladeshi government has started relocating Rohingya refugees living along dangerous hill slopes.