PROTESTS DERAIL ROHINGYA REPATRIATION
First batch of refugees refuse to return to Myanmar, say sources
HUNDREDS of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh pro-tested yesterday against any attempt to send them back to Myanmar after sources in Bangladesh said the launch of a repatriation plan had been postponed.
Bangladesh had begun preparations to repatriate an initial batch of Rohingya Muslims to Myanmar, in line with a plan agreed with Myanmar in October.
But there have been doubts about the plan and it has been opposed by the United Nations refugee agency and aid groups, who fear for the safety of the Rohingya in Myanmar, and by many Rohingya in camps in Bangladesh.
“No, no, we won’t go,” hundreds of Rohingya protesters chanted in the Unchiprang camp in southeast Bangladesh, near the Myanmar border.
Some protesters waved placards that said “We want justice” and “We will never return to Myanmar without our citizenship”.
More than 700,000 Rohingya fled a sweeping army crackdown in Myanmar’s Rakhine state last year, according to UN agencies, launched in response to Rohingya insurgent attacks on the security forces.
The Rohingya refugees said soldiers and Buddhist civilians massacred families, burnt hundreds of villages and carried out gang rapes. UN-mandated investigators have accused the Myanmar army of “genocidal intent” and ethnic cleansing.
Myanmar denied almost all of the accusations, saying its security forces had been engaged in a counter-insurgency operation against “terrorists”.
Earlier, three sources directly briefed on the issue, said repatriation would not begin as none of those selected to go back had agreed to.
“Nobody wants to go back,” said one of the sources.
The repatriation of a first group of 2,200 refugees was to begin yesterday, and officials in Myanmar had said they were ready to receive the returnees.
But Bangladesh has vowed not to force anyone to return and it has asked the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to make sure those short-listed to return really want to go back.
The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, said Bangladeshi officials were due to meet Myanmar counterparts at a border crossing to inform them that no one had agreed to return.