[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index ][Thread Index ]

Reuters-Bangladesh blames Myanmar f



Subject: Reuters-Bangladesh blames Myanmar for slow repatriation 

Bangladesh blames Myanmar for slow repatriation
12:53 a.m. Apr 09, 1999 Eastern
COX'S BAZAR, Bangladesh, April 9 (Reuters) - Bangladesh on Friday held
Myanmar responsible for a slow return of its refugees from southeastern
Bangladesh.

``Over 21,000 Myanmar Moslem refugees, known as Rohingyas, are still
awaiting repatriation...but the process has come to a near-dead slow,''
chief repatriation officer Borhanuddin Ammed said.

``Dilly-dallying by Yangon is to be blamed for the virtual halt in the
repatriation process,'' he told Reuters in Cox's Bazar.

The refugees live in Kutupalong and Nayapara camps in Bangladesh's
southeastern Cox's Bazar district, which borders west Myanmar's
Moslem-majority Arakan province.

They are remnants of some 250,000 Arakani Rohingyas who fled to Bangladesh
in early 1992 trying to escape alleged persecution by Myanmar military
junta.

They started returning home in September 1992 under supervision of the U.N.
High Commissioner for Refugees.

On Thursday, two Rohingya families with nine members were sent home across
the Naf border river, Ahmed said. ``Only 19 Rohingyas have been repatriated
since February 4,'' he said.