Rohingya crisis: Bangladesh home minister may go to Myanmar in October

Bangladesh may send one of its senior cabinet members to Myanmar as early as this month to take forward the process of repatriating Rohingyas.

More than half a million Rohingyas have fled to Bangladesh since a counter-insurgency offensive by Myanmar's army in the wake of militant attacks on security forces in late August.

The UN has described Myanmar's strategy as "ethnic cleansing".

Bangladesh was already home to 400,000 Rohingya refugees before insurgents attacked 30 police outposts and an army base in the western state on Aug 25.

"The visit was scheduled way earlier, but in the meantime the situation in Myanmar has changed. It may happen this month," Bangladesh Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan told the media in Dhaka.

International aid agencies say some 515,000 Rohingyas have fled to Bangladesh in six weeks since the end of August and the United Nations said it was bracing for a possible 'further exodus'.

Bangladesh initially kept its border closed after violence broke out in Myanmar's western Rakhine, but later decided to open it up to Rohingyas on humanitarian grounds.

Many in Buddhist-majority Myanmar consider the Rohingyas, who are mostly Muslims, as illegal migrants from Bangladesh.

Dhaka has maintained from the very beginning that Myanmar has to take back its citizens.

Amid mounting international pressure, Myanmar's de-facto leader Aung Sun Suu Kyi addressed the parliament on Sep 19, when she said they were ready to take back 'verified refugees' in line with a deal signed in 1992.

Bangladesh had then said it would call the international community for a verification process supervised by the UN.

The first official talks between the countries since the latest exodus, which the UN dubs as the 'world's fastest-developing refugee crisis', was held on Oct 2 when Myanmar's Minister for the Office of the State Counsellor Kyaw Tint Swe came to Dhaka.

Home Minister Khan was part of the Bangladesh delegation led by Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali during the talks.

Foreign Minister Ali told the media after that meeting that they have proposed signing a bilateral agreement for repatriation and handed over a draft to Myanmar.

He had then said his cabinet colleague Khan would go to Myanmar very soon to take the process forward.

More on the Rohingya crisis

Myanmar wanted war: Hasina

Open to peace with Myanmar: Rohingya insurgents

Rohingyas are 'forcibly displaced Myanmar citizens'

Kutupalong camp to house all Rohingyas

Refugees can return from Bangladesh: Myanmar