‘ 2,000 Rohingya refugees to return to Myanmar by Nov.’

Cox’s Bazar, Oct. 31: A top Myanmar official said Wednesday that his country would take back a first group of 2,000 Rohingya refugees from camps in Bangladesh in November despite widespread doubts over the proposal.

Officials from the two countries announced on Tuesday that some of the 720,000 Muslim Rohingya who fled a deadly military clampdown in the Buddhist- majority country last year would start returning next month.

Myanmar foreign secretary Myint Thu visited the camps in Cox’s Bazar on Wednesday to discuss the repatriations with refugees.

Most repeated demands that they be given Myanmar nationality with full rights before they return.

Thu said Myanmar has verified 5,000 names on a list of 8,032 Rohingya that Bangladesh authorities sent in February.

“From that 5,000, the first batch will be about 2,000 people. And then a second batch will follow. So in midNovember we will receive the first batch,” Thu told reporters. Bangladesh officials said a new list of 24,342 Rohingya names was handed over in talks this week.

But Rohingya representatives expressed strong doubts about going back despite the announcement. “We would rather die in the camp in Bangladesh. We will not return without any guarantee of citizenship or fully restored rights,” Abdul Hakim, one refugee from Myanmar’s Rakhine state, told AFP.

The United Nations, aid groups and even Bangladesh authorities have said any repatriation must be voluntary.

Myanmar foreign secretary Myint Thu visited the camps in Cox’s Bazar on Wednesday to discuss the repatriations with refugees.