Rohingya refugee talks could lead to their ‘safe and voluntary return’

Myanmar’s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi said on Tuesday she hopes talks with Bangladesh this week will result in a memorandum of understanding on the “safe and voluntary return” of Rohingya Muslims who fled to Bangladesh in the past three months.

A counter-insurgency operation launched in Myanmar’s Rakhine State has driven more than 600,000 Rohingya out of the Buddhist-majority country since late August.

Rights groups have accused Myanmar’s military of atrocities, including mass rape, against Rohingya during the clearance operation.

“We can’t say whether it has happened or not. As a responsibility of the government, we have to make sure that it won’t happen,” Suu Kyi said in response to a question about human rights violations at the end of a meeting of senior officials at an Asia-Europe Meeting, or ASEM, in Myanmar’s capital Naypyitaw.

Her less than two-year-old civilian government has faced heavy international criticism for its response to the crisis, even though it has no control over the generals whom it has to share power with under Myanmar’s transition to power after decades of military rule.

Turning to the question of repatriation of Rohingya, Suu Kyi said discussions would be held with the Bangladesh foreign minister on Wednesday and Thursday. Officials from both countries began discussions last month on how to process applications by Rohingya wanting to return to Myanmar.

“We hope that this would result in an MOU signed quickly, which would enable us to start the safe and voluntary return of all of those who have gone across the border,” Suu Kyi said.

The Nobel laureate did not use the term “Rohingya”. Myanmar rejects use of the term for the Muslim minority, which is not on an official list of the country’s ethnic groups.

The Rohingya are largely stateless and many people in Myanmar view them as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

Suu Kyi said Myanmar would follow the framework of an agreement reached in the 1990s to cover the earlier repatriation of Rohingya, who had fled to Bangladesh to escape previous bouts of ethnic violence.