Aung San Suu Kyi suggests speed of Rohingya return is up to Bangladesh

Aung San Suu Kyi said Tuesday it was up to Bangladesh to decide how quickly Rohingya refugees would return to Myanmar, appearing to blame Dhaka for the delay.

More than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims fled Buddhist-majority Myanmar to Bangladesh after a military action on the stateless minority almost a year ago.

The two countries last November signed a deal to repatriate them but it has stalled.

Bangladesh insists the Rohingya are on its soil temporarily but has not forced them back. In rare public remarks on the crisis, civilian leader Suu Kyi said in a speech in Singapore that Myanmar has been ready to receive Rohingya returnees since January 23 as agreed in the memorandum of understanding.

“It’s very difficult for us to put a time frame on it by ourselves unilaterally because we have to work with Bangladesh in order to do that,” she told an audience in a lecture organized by the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute.

“Bangladesh would also have to decide how quickly they want the process to be completed,” Suu Kyi said.

Since the repatriation was signed, the two countries have wrangled over details, including the way refugees are described on identity cards in Bangladesh.

Rohingya living in camps over the border insist on safety guarantees and citizenship rights before returning to Rakhine state in western Myanmar, where the US says conditions are not ready.

Suu Kyi, a Nobel laureate once under house arrest by the junta that ruled for decades, has seen her global reputation crumble since coming to power for failing to speak up for the Rohingya.

“We who are living through the transition in Myanmar view it differently from those who observe it from the outside and who will remain untouched from its outcome,” she said, appearing relaxed and jocular.

She also blamed Rohingya insurgents and avoided criticism of the military.

“The danger of terrorist activities which was the initial cause of events leading to the humanitarian crisis in Rakhine remains real and present today,” she said.