Myanmar says it will repatriate Rohingya
YANGON: Myanmar and Bangladesh plan to complete repatriations of Rohingya refugees who fled a brutal military crackdown in Myanmar’s Rakhine State within two years of the first returnees arriving later this month, Bangladesh’s Foreign Ministry said yesterday.
Representatives from Myanmar and Bangladesh were discussing the implementation of a repatriation deal signed in November last year at meetings in Naypyidaw on Monday and yesterday, according to a statement.
Repatriated refugees would be temporarily housed in Hla Po Khaung camp – now under construction – after registering at one of two repatriation centres, the statement confirmed.
“Myanmar has reiterated its commitment to stop outflow of Myanmar residents to Bangladesh,” the statement added.
The UN has reiterated warnings that all repatriations must be voluntary and that refugees should be returned to their place of origin. “Any returnees to Myanmar should be required to stay in transit centres for a short period for the purpose of processing, before being allowed to travel on to their original farms and villages,” a UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) spokesman told dpa.
The UN yesterday called for Rohingya refugees who had fled to Bangladesh to be informed about conditions in Myanmar’s northern Rakhine state before they were allowed to return voluntarily and in safety.
More than 655000 minority Rohingya Muslims have left Myanmar since August 25 last year when the military launched “security operations” in response to attacks by Rohingya militants.
Myanmar has mostly denied accusations of widespread human rights abuses against Rohingya and has refused access to a UN fact-finding mission mandated to investigate the scale of what the US has called obvious “ethnic cleansing.”