B’desh delays return of Rohingya refugees

Kabul hotel attack toll at 22

COX’S BAZAR, Bangladesh, Jan 22, (AFP): The repatriation of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims who fled violence in Myanmar will not begin as planned, Bangladesh said Monday, with authorities admitting “a lot of preparation” was still needed.

Dhaka had been due to start the huge process on Jan 23, after agreeing a two-year timescale with Yangon.

But Bangladesh’s Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner Mohammad Abul Kalam announced Monday that there was much more work to be done.

“We have not made the preparations required to send back people from tomorrow. A lot of preparation is still needed,” Kalam told AFP.

Since August last year around 688,000 Muslim Rohingya have escaped over the border into Bangladesh in the wake of a military-led campaign in Rakhine state that the UN says amounted to “ethnic

Suu Kyi

cleansing”.

They poured into ill-equipped and over-crowded camps, bringing with them harrowing tales of rape, murder and torture at the hands of Myanmar’s feared army or Buddhist mobs.

After a global outcry, which included loud criticism of Myanmar’s civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the two countries agreed earlier this month that the refugees would be returned to Myanmar, in a process they said would take around two years.

Rights groups and the UN have said any repatriation must be voluntary, with reports that many Rohingya settlements have been burned to the ground.

Bangladesh has sought to assure the international community that only those wishing to go back to their homelands in Rakhine state would be sent to Myanmar, and the process would involve the UN’s refugee agency.

Kabul hotel attack toll at 22:

At least 22 people are now known to have died when Taliban militants slaughtered guests at a luxury Kabul hotel, Afghan officials said Monday, as fears grew that the attackers may have had inside help.

Authorities warned they were still investigating how militants breached security, which was taken over by a private company three weeks ago, at the landmark Intercontinental Hotel late Saturday.

Guests cowered behind pillars and in rooms as gunmen sprayed bullets and set fire to parts of the sixstorey building. Some people climbed over balconies, using bedsheets in a desperate attempt to escape.

The attack ended after more than 12 hours Sunday with all six militants killed by Afghan forces, aided by Norwegian troops.

Afghan health ministry spokesman Waheed Majroh said 22 bodies had now been taken to Kabul hospitals.

“Some of the bodies (are) burned badly and need DNA tests to be identified,” he said.

Six Ukrainians were among those killed in the assault, the country’s foreign ministry has confirmed.

Delhi sacks 20 lawmakers:

India’s President on Sunday sacked 20 lawmakers from the state assembly in New Delhi after they were revealed to be holding jobs in government despite laws forbidding the practice.

The purge reduces by nearly a third the number of state assembly seats held by Delhi’s ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which still maintains a majority. It attacked the sackings as “unconstitutional”.

The Election Commission had recommended on Friday that the legislators be disqualified for drawing salaries for government jobs outside their elected duties.

Politicians are barred in most states from accepting paid work in public office while earning a living as sitting members. Those appointed as ministers are exempt from the rules.

The practise of “holding offices of profit” has been legalised in some Indian states but not in the capital Delhi.

President Ramnath Kovind — who was nominated last year by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party for the post — upheld the commission’s recommendation and dismissed the lawmakers.

The AAP — who won 67 of Delhi’s 70 seats in 2015, against just three for the BJP — described the move as politically motivated.

WB signs Nepal’s $300m loan:

The World Bank on Sunday approved a $300 million loan for Nepal as the impoverished nation struggles to raise money to rebuild almost three years after an earthquake killed thousands and flattened homes.

Nearly 9,000 people died when a 7.8-magnitude quake struck in April 2015, destroying more than half a million homes.

Only one in ten of those homes has been rebuilt as the third anniversary of the disaster looms and Nepal faces a $1.2 billion shortfall in reconstruction funds, the World Bank said.

“The gap has decreased” through this loan, said Kamran Akbar, a disaster risk management specialist at the global financial lender.

“We understand that there is still a requirement but there are also others who are supporting Nepal,” he told AFP.

Kathmandu estimated the recovery bill from the devastating quake at $6.7 billion but costs quickly spiralled.

The government has faced mounting criticism over the slow pace of reconstruction.

Political wrangling meant Nepalis who lost everything waited nearly a year before receiving their first instalment of a promised housing grant.

Nasheed accuses China of land grab:

Exiled Maldives opposition leader Mohamed Nasheed on Monday accused China of seizing land in the politically-troubled Indian Ocean archipelago and undermining its sovereignty.

Nasheed said Chinese interests had leased at least 16 islets among the 1,192 scattered coral islands and were building ports and other infrastructure there.

The 50-year-old former president said the increased Chinese presence could threaten the Muslim-majority nation of 340,000 and the wider Indian Ocean region.

During a visit to Colombo, where his Maldivian Democratic Party activists are based, Nasheed called the Chinese action a “land grab.”