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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.