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NEWS - UNHCR Reports Progress in Ba



UNHCR Reports Progress in Bangladesh  Refugee Talk

               Reuters
               03-FEB-98
               By Shehab Ahmed Nafa

               DHAKA, Feb 3 (Reuters) -
               Bangladesh and the U.N. High
               Commissioner for Refugees have
               made progress in talks in Dhaka over
               resuming repatriation of thousands of
               Myanmar (Burmese) refugees,
               UNHCR officials said on Tuesday.

               ``We have made significant
               progress,'' a UNHCR official said
               after two days of talks between the
               Bangladesh government and a
               UNHCR team, which arrived here on
               Sunday.

               Led by Francois Fouinat, director of
               the agency's Asia-Pacific operations,
               the team held meetings with Home
               (Interior) Minister Rafiqul Islam and
               senior officials to resume repatriation
               of some 21,000 Moslem refugees
               called Rohingyas.

               ``We looked at the possibilities of
               restarting the repatriation as soon as
               possible,'' said the UNHCR official,
               who declined to be identified.

               ``We stressed on a voluntary
               repatriation and on peaceful
               resolution of the standoff at two
               refugee camps in Cox's Bazar,'' he
               said, referring to the tension following
               a recent reported revolt in which
               inmates took control of the camps.

               He said the situation at Kutupalong
               camp, housing some 9,000
               Rohingyas, had improved but it
               remained ``difficult'' at Nayapara
               camp with 12,000 refugees.

               Bangladesh officials earlier said
               ``extremists elements'' had provoked
               rioting at Nayapara to pressure the
               Dhaka government not to send them
               back to Myanmar.

               Officials said the government also
               insisted on early repatriation of the
               Rohingyas as they had been a
               burden on Bangladesh.

               ``They are straining our meagre
               resources,'' one official said on
               Tuesday. ``We want them all back
               home as early as possible.''

               The 21,000 refugees are the last of
               some 250,000 Rohingyas who fled to
               Bangladesh in early 1992 to escape
               alleged persecution by Myanmar's
               military junta.

               Repatriation of the Rohingyas started
               in September 1992 following an
               agreement between Dhaka and
               Yangon but stopped last April.

               Bangladeshi officials blamed the
               delay on foot-dragging by Myanmar
               authorities in granting clearance for
               the last Rohingyas to be repatriated.

               The Bangladesh government then
               turned down a subsequent UNHCR
               plea to allow the 21,000 refugees to
               stay permanently in Bangladesh.

               Police said they suspected some
               inmates of the refugee camps could
               be members of the Rohingya
               Solidarity Organisation, a Moslem
               rebel group fighting for independence
               for western Myanmar's Arakan
               province, which borders Cox's Bazar.