US urges Myanmar to follow 1992 deal in Rohingya repatriation

The US has pressed Myanmar to take back the Rohingyas, who fled to Bangladesh, in line with the 1992 agreement between the two next-door neighbours.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson spoke on Thursday with Myanmar's army chief by phone and expressed concern over reported atrocities against Muslims in Rakhine state, the US State Department said in a statement.

Tillerson urged the army chief, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, allowing safe return of those displaced in the crisis, especially the ethnic Rohingyas, according to the 1992 Joint Statement with Bangladesh and 'without further conditions'.

Bangladesh, however, says that the decades-old agreement is not realistic anymore as the situation has since changed significantly. 

More than 600,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled the Rakhine state in Buddhist-majority Myanmar since security forces responded to Rohingya militants' attacks on Aug 25 by launching a crackdown.

Bangladesh initially kept its border closed after violence broke out in the western Myanmar state, but later opened it to Rohingyas on humanitarian grounds. 

Bangladesh was already home to 400,000 Rohingya refugees over the last few decades before the latest colossal exodus.

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' under a deal signed in 1992. 

In 1992, Bangladesh signed a repatriation agreement with the then military regime of Myanmar, following which 236,599 Rohingyas returned to their homeland. But another 2,415 were denied entry even after meeting the criteria under the arrangement.

Earlier this month, Bangladesh Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali said the previous arrangement will not work now as the current situation is 'entirely different' and verifying Rohingyas based on their residence in Rakhine is not 'realistic' anymore.

He had also said Bangladesh finds Myanmar’s proposal to take back the Rohingyas in line with the 1992 arrangement as a 'strategy to defuse international pressure'.

"Myanmar may try to limit the number of refugees for repatriation by its own verification process and delay implementing recommendations by the Kofi Annan panel."

 His remarks came a week after the Oct 2 Dhaka meeting with a Myanmar delegation, led by its Minister for the Office of the State Counsellor Kyaw Tint Swe, when the formation of a joint panel was agreed for repatriating refugees.

During the talks, Dhaka proposed signing a new bilateral agreement for the repatriation process and handed over a draft to Myanmar.

A Bangladesh delegation led by Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan went to Myanmar this week in an effort to take forward the discussion on the repatriation of refugees.

The countries reached a 10-point agreement after a meeting in Naypyidaw on Tuesday, which includes “stopping immediately entry by Myanmar nationals into Bangladesh and repatriation of refugees at the earliest date and restoring normalcy in Rakhine Region for their resettlement”. 

Both sides also agreed to form the joint working committee in November to arrange resettlement.

 In his phone call on Thursday, Secretary Tillerson urged the Myanmar general to support the government in ending the violence and allowing the safe return of ethnic Rohingyas.