Myanmar’s Foreign Minister Than Sui has responded positively to the start of Rohingya repatriation from Bangladesh to his country.
Myanmar’s foreign minister expressed this attitude on a sideline bilateral meeting with the foreign minister of Bangladesh Dr Hasan Mahmud of BIMSTEC conference in India’s capital New Delhi.
The meeting was held on Thursday evening, the first day of the second retreat of foreign ministers of BIMSTEC countries.
At this time Dr. Hasan reminded Myanmar’s foreign minister of their previous discussions and said that for a long time Myanmar has been saying that they are willing to take back the Rohingyas who have been forcibly displaced from their country and have taken refuge in Bangladesh.
But no signs of its implementation have been observed yet, said Dr. Hasan Mahmud, “only when the repatriation process starts, Myanmar can set a precedent to keep its promise,”.
Myanmar’s Foreign Minister Than Sui responded positively and reiterated his intention to start repatriation as soon as possible in consultation with his government.
Bangladesh has sheltered more than 1.2 million Rohingyas who have fled the brutal torture of the Myanmar army at various times. They are living in camps at Ukihya and Teknaf of Cox’s Bazar, also in Bhasancha of Noakhali.
Bangladesh has been raising strong demands to the international community to take them back to Myanmar safely, sustainably and with dignity, even though it has been sheltering the Rohingyas for so long on humanitarian grounds.
In the face of international pressure Myanmar agreed to take back the Rohingyas at the end of 2017 and signed a bilateral agreement with Bangladesh in September of that year.
After that, two rounds of repatriation attempt were undertaken in 2019, but the Rohingyas refused to return citing concerns about the security situation in Rakhine State. Rohingya repatriation has been stuck since then.
