MYANMAR TIMES
NYAN LYNN AUNG | 24 APR 2019
Refugees from northern Rakhine State are seen at Kutubpalang camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, last August. Photo - EPA
Myanmar and Bangladesh officials will meet on May 3 in Nay Pyi Taw to discuss the much delayed repatriation of the more than 700,000 northern Rakhine State refugees living in cramped camps in Bangladesh.
The fourth joint working group meeting of the countries will be the first between the two sides since the failed attempt to repatriate the first batch of refugees last December.
U Aung Kyaw Zan, deputy permanent secretary of the Foreign Affairs Ministry, confirmed the meeting and said Myanmar will continue to push for the immediate start of the repatriation.
“We have to move forward as we signed an agreement, but we don’t know how Bangladesh will respond to our proposal,” he said.
He said the Myanmar side will discuss the best method to implement the repatriation.
According to the ministry, the meeting might focus on the immediate repatriation of Hindu refugees, who have expressed a desire to return to the country.
U Ko Ko Naing, a member of the group from the Social Welfare Department, confirmed that the meeting is scheduled but had no details about the agenda.
Myanmar and Bangladesh signed a repatriation agreement in November 2017 in Nay Pyi Taw, but efforts to implement the plan have been postponed several times amid refugee concerns about their security once they return to their villages.
Myanmar blames the Bangladesh government for the failure to repatriate the first batch of refugees from northern Rakhine.
Over 700,000 Muslims fled to Bangladesh after the Tatmadaw (military) launched a brutal crackdown in Rakhine in August 2017 in response to deadly attacks on security outposts by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army.
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