Myanmar navy to verify 727 stranded migrants in ‘safe’ place, not escort them to Bangladesh

Myanmar’s Information Minister Ye Htut has corrected his previous comment about the destination of the boat with 727 stranded migrants on board that was being escorted by their navy.

He had earlier said the converted fishing boat was being taken to the waters of Bangladesh, according to Reuters.

The minister then retracted the claim and said on Tuesday they were headed to an undisclosed but safe area.

There, their identities will be verified and they had been provided with food and water, the news agency quoted him as saying.

"The operation is starting. They will be taken to a safe destination," Ye Htut told Reuters by telephone.

He would not disclose that location due to "security and safety concerns”.

Bangladeshi border guards said on Tuesday the Myanmar navy alerted them the migrants would be moved up Naf River to Mongdu city in two big ships under their escort.

BGB’s Teknaf 42 Battalion’s acting commander Major Abu Rasel Siddiqui also told bdnews24.com they were prepared to use all necessary means to resist Myanmar if it did anything otherwise.

“The Bangladesh Navy has taken all preparations.”

The migrants were found drifting in the Andaman Sea on Friday in an overloaded fishing boat that was taking on water.

UN estimated earlier that about 2,000 people could still be at sea after smuggling gangs abandoned them after a crackdown that started last month in Thailand.

The discovery of mass graves and human trafficking camps in the Thai forests led to Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand clamping down their borders.

A majority of the migrants are Rohingyas escaping repression in Myanmar’s Rakhine State.

The Myanmar government refuses to refer to the Rohingyas by name and insists most are illegal Bangladeshi migrants.

They live in apartheid-like conditions and are deeply resented by Rakhine's Buddhist majority.

Following the crisis, the Myanmar government initially labelled the migrants ‘Bengalis’ and were reluctant about talks to resolve the issue insisting it is not to blame.

Seventeen countries were represented at a meeting in Bangkok last week after 4,000 Rohingya and Bangladeshi "boat people" landed on the shores of Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia in recent weeks.

The Rohingya exodus is a sensitive issue for Myanmar, which is under international pressure to grant citizenship to the Rohingyas.

US President Barack Obama on Monday said Myanmar needed to end discrimination against Rohingyas.

A Myanmar navy officer who declined to be named told Reuters on Sunday that some migrants aboard the crowded boat could speak a dialect that is used in Rakhine state but not widely spoken in Bangladesh.

Scott Busby, the US Deputy Assistant secretary for democracy, human rights and labour, on Tuesday welcomed an agreement between affected countries to address "root causes" of the exodus.

He said Myanmar should make a start by granting Rohingyas citizenship.

"Many people have been there for a very long period of time, they need access to citizenship," Reuters reported him telling reporters in Cambodia.

(With input from Reuters)