Rohingya repatriation depends on voluntary return: Official

Refugee Repatriation and Relief Commissioner Mohammad Abul Kalam has said Bangladesh will send only those Rohingyas who agree to go back to Myanmar.

Cox’s Bazar Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 15 Nov 2018, 06:04 AM
Updated : 15 Nov 2018, 07:35 AM

UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, has told the government that none of the listed Rohingyas agreed to return to Rakhine in the prevailing situation.

As a result, a cloud of uncertainty hangs over the planned start of repatriation of the Rohingya refugees scheduled for Thursday.

According to an agreement between the two countries, 2,260 Rohingyas of 485 families from Jamtoli refugee shelter at Ukhiya and Teknaf’s Unchiprang shelter in Cox’s Bazar were supposed to be repatriated in 15 days, with 150 per day.

The repatriation commission was preparing over the past few days for sending back the first batch of Rohingyas.

Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali will hold a “diplomatic briefing” on the Rohingya repatriation plan at 4.30pm at state guesthouse Padma in Dhaka.

“We will send those who want to go back willingly. We have taken all the preparations. If anybody agrees, we’ll take them to the transit camp,” Kalam said at a media briefing on Thursday.
 
On Wednesday, officials of Bangladesh’s Refugee Repatriation and Relief Commission met representatives of different international agencies and the government, but no-one was willing to disclose the outcome of the discussions.

The first group of Rohingyas selected for repatriation was not taken to the transit camp set up near the border until Wednesday night, according to Kalam.
 
The transit camp has been set up two and a half kilometres from the border with arrangements for the brief stay of the Rohingya returnees.

The United Nations, however, has urged Bangladesh to scrap the plan of starting the repatriation now, saying conditions in Myanmar are not yet safe for the Rohingyas, in part because the Buddhists in the country have been protesting against the repatriation.

More than 700,000 Rohingyas have crossed the border to join around 400,000 refugees in Bangladesh after Myanmar launched an army operation against the minority Muslims on Aug 25 last year after insurgent attacks on security posts.
The UN has dubbed the operation ‘ethnic cleansing’ and found Myanmar military’s ‘genocidal intent’ in the crackdown on the Rohingyas.
Following pressure from the international community and widespread criticism, Myanmar signed an agreement with Bangladesh in the beginning of this year to take back the recently displaced Rohingyas, but the process was delayed for different reasons.
Finally on Oct 30, the two countries agreed to start the process in mid-November.