Myanmar blames Bangladesh for delayed Rohingya return

YANGON — Myanmar blamed Bangladesh yesterday for delays to a huge repatriation programme for Rohingya refugees, as the deadline passed for starting the return of the Muslim minority to strife-torn Rakhine state.

More than 680,000 Rohingya fled to Bangladesh after a brutal Myanmar army crackdown began last August, while a further 100,000 fled a previous bout of violence in October 2016.

Myanmar agreed that from January 23 it would start taking them back from the squalid camps in the Cox's Bazar district of Bangladesh where they have sought shelter.

But a Bangladeshi official said Monday the program would not begin as planned. Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner Mohammad Abul Kalam said there was much more work to be done.

The complex process of registering huge numbers of the dispossessed has been further cast into doubt by the refugees, who are too afraid to return to the scene of what the UN has called "ethnic cleansing."

Myanmar authorities are also accused of drawing out the process by agreeing to take back just 1,500 people a week. It has prepared two reception camps on its side of the border.

Myanmar officials said that by yesterday afternoon no Rohingya had crossed back into Rakhine, the scene of alleged widespread atrocities by Myanmar's army and ethnic Rakhine mobs.

"We are right now ready to receive ... we are completely ready to welcome them according to the agreement," Kyaw Tin, Minister of International Cooperation told reporters in Naypyidaw, Myanmar's capital. "We have seen the news that the Bangladesh side is not ready, but we have not received any official" explanation, he added.

National Security Adviser Thaung Tun said "it is our hope that this will commence today as agreed." With hundreds of Rohingya villages torched and communal tensions still at boiling point in Rakhine, rights groups say Rohingya returnees will be at best corralled into long-term camps.

Those who return must sign a form verifying they did so voluntarily and pledging to abide by Myanmar laws.