Pope to meet head of Myanmar army and Rohingya refugees: Vatican

Thomson Reuters

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis will meet with the head of Myanmar's army while in the country and with Rohingya refugees later while he is in Bangladesh, both last-minute additions to his tour of the two countries next week, the Vatican said on Wednesday.

Vatican spokesman Greg Burke, briefing reporters on the trip, said that he would meet the head of the army privately in the bishop's residence in Yangon.

He said that a "a small group" of Rohingya refugees will be present at an inter-religious meeting for peace in the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka on the afternoon of Friday, Dec 1.

Both events were not on the original schedule of the trip of the Nov. 26-Dec. 2 trip.

Some 600,000 Rohingya refugees from Myanmar's northern Rakhine state have fled to Bangladesh.

(Reporting By Philip Pullella)

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