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Rohingya Muslims' repatriation to Myanmar postponed Rohingya Muslims' repatriation to Myanmar postponed
(34 minutes later)
Bangladeshi agreement to send back members of abused minority, due to begin on Tuesday, is on holdBangladeshi agreement to send back members of abused minority, due to begin on Tuesday, is on hold
Associated Press in DhakaAssociated Press in Dhaka
Mon 22 Jan 2018 07.53 GMTMon 22 Jan 2018 07.53 GMT
Last modified on Mon 22 Jan 2018 08.00 GMT Last modified on Mon 22 Jan 2018 08.45 GMT
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The repatriation of Rohingya Muslim refugees from Bangladesh to Myanmar has been postponed, a Bangladeshi official has said. The gradual repatriation of more than 650,000 Rohingya Muslim refugees to Myanmar from Bangladesh has been postponed amid widespread fears that refugees would be forced to return, a Bangladeshi official has said.
Abul Kalam, commissioner of the refugees, relief and repatriation commission in the coastal area of Cox’s Bazar, gave no details beyond saying that officials “are working on this”. “The main thing is that the process has to be voluntary,” said Abul Kalam, the refugee and repatriation commissioner, said on Monday. He added that paperwork for returning refugees had not yet been finalised and transit camps had yet to be built in Bangladesh. The repatriation had been due to begin on Tuesday. It was not immediately clear when the process would now start.
About 750,000 Rohingya fled to Bangladesh after army crackdowns in Myanmar’s northern Rakhine state which started in October 2016. The Muslim minority have faced decades of systemic oppression in Myanmar; the UN, the US government and others have described recent violence as ethnic cleansing. His announcement came amid growing concerns among international aid workers and the Rohingya that they could be coerced to go back to Myanmar. Most fled just months ago, escaping attacks by security forces and Buddhist mobs.
An agreement between Bangladesh and Myanmar said their return home was to begin on Tuesday. “If they send us back forcefully we will not go,” Sayed Noor, who fled from his village in Myanmar in August, said over the weekend, adding that Myanmar authorities “have to give us our rights and give us justice”.
However, many Rohingya have expressed worries with the agreement, saying they do not feel safe returning home and would prefer to stay in Bangladeshi refugee camps. Eventually, the more than 750,000 Rohingya who have fled Myanmar since August were to leave Bangladesh in a process that guarantees them “safety, security and dignity”, according to an agreement both countries signed late last year.
David Mathieson, a human rights researcher who has spent years working on Rohingya issues, criticised the agreement before the latest announcement.
“It’s a fantasyland, make-believe world that both governments are in,” he said, noting that security forces in Myanmar had just forced hundreds of thousands of Rohingya across the border. “Now you’re expecting them to come back, as if they’re in a conga line of joy after what you did to them?”
The Rohingya Muslims have long been treated as outsiders in largely Buddhist Myanmar, derided as “Bengalis”, illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, even though generations of Rohingya have lived in Myanmar. Nearly all have been denied citizenship since 1982, effectively rendered stateless. They are denied freedom of movement and other basic rights.
Many of the people who fled earlier violence and moved into displacement camps inside Myanmar have been unable to leave those settlements for years. Most Rohingya lived in poverty in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, near the Bangladesh border.
The recent surge of violence erupted after an underground insurgent group, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, attacked at least 30 security outposts in Myanmar in late August. The military and Buddhist mobs then retaliated against Rohingya across Rakhine in a frenzy of murders, rapes and burned villages. The UN has described the violence as “textbook ethnic cleansing”.
Doctors Without Borders believes that at least 6,700 Rohingya died in the attacks which sowed terror across their communities, sending more than 650,000 fleeing across the border.
The Rohingya are Muslims who live in majority-Buddhist Myanmar. They are often described as "the world's most persecuted minority". The Rohingya are Muslims who live in majority-Buddhist Myanmar. They are often described as "the world's most persecuted minority". 
Nearly all of Myanmar's 1.1 million Rohingya live in the western coastal state of Rakhine. The government does not recognise them as citizens, effectively rendering them stateless.Nearly all of Myanmar's 1.1 million Rohingya live in the western coastal state of Rakhine. The government does not recognise them as citizens, effectively rendering them stateless.
Extremist nationalist movements insist the group are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, although the Rohingya say they are native to Rakhine state.Rights groups accuse Burmese authorities of ethnic cleansing, systematically forcing Rohingya from the country through violence and persecution, a charge the government has denied.Extremist nationalist movements insist the group are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, although the Rohingya say they are native to Rakhine state.Rights groups accuse Burmese authorities of ethnic cleansing, systematically forcing Rohingya from the country through violence and persecution, a charge the government has denied.
Last week the UN secretary general, António Guterres, said the repatriation deal needed to clarify whether Rohingya would be permitted to return to their homes or live in specially built camps. In early January, following up on their November 2017 agreement, Bangladesh and Myanmar signed a deal to begin sending back the refugees starting on Tuesday. Officials have said they expect some 1,500 refugees to go back each week, though only those with identity documents, which most Rohingya lack, will be allowed into Myanmar.
More soon … Both countries are keen to start the repatriations. Bangladesh is weary of hosting Rohingya who have spilled across the border for decades. More than a million are now believed to live in Bangladesh. Myanmar, meanwhile, hopes the repatriations will lessen the international condemnation it has over the violence.
RohingyaRohingya
MyanmarMyanmar
South and Central AsiaSouth and Central Asia
BangladeshBangladesh
RefugeesRefugees
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