Rohingya repatriation

[teruyuki_i@xxxxxxxxx]

Speed up Rohingya repatriation

Dhaka will ask Myanmar FM during his visit

By Shehab Ahmed


Dhaka will press Yangon to expedite repatriation of
the remaining Rohingya refugees during the forthcoming
visit of Myanmar Foreign Minister U Win Wung to
Bangladesh, sources concerned said.

Wung is due to arrive in the city on July 17 on a
three-day official visit.


Myanmar authorities resumed the repatriation of
Rohingyas in November last after more than a year but
slowed down the process.


Last week, 15 Rohingyas returned to Myanmar from the
two camps for the refugees in Cox's Bazar, with about
22,000 more awaiting their turn to go home after eight
years. 

UNHCR Resident Representative in Dhaka Wilbert van
Hovel told The Daily Star it is important that high
level bilateral negotiations continue between
Bangladesh and Myanmar. "UNHCR also appeals to Myanmar
government which has accepted a large number of people
to go the extra mile", Hovel added.


Earlier in July 1997, the Myanmar authorities had
stopped the repatriation process, after taking back
some 230,000 Rohingyas out of the 250,000. They had
fled their homes in the Rakhaine state of western
Myanmar late in 1991, to escape persecution by the
military junta.


After prolonged negotiations and visits by foreign
ministers of the two countries, Rangoon agreed to
resume the repatriation process on November 25 last
year.


Since then only 300 refugees were taken back,
including the 15 last week.


Out of the 21,305 refugees staying in the two camps,
the Myanmar authorities have given clearance to only
7208,accepting their claims of residence in Rakhaine
state. Yangon remained adamant that the others are not
their residents, making the repatriation process
difficult.


Bangladesh is finding is difficult to keep the
refugees in camps which were plagued by trouble with a
section of them trying to persuade the others not to
go back. A riot also broke out in 1997 after the
abrupt stoppage of repatriation by Myanmar.


But uncertainty and difficulties on the part of the
UNHCR to keep on providing subsistence ration also
cloud the future of the refugees.


After spending some 100 million dollars since the
Rohingyas had started crossing into Bangladesh, UNHCR
now finds it difficult to run its programme, sources
in it said.


UNHCR is considering a number of options to relieve
itself of the burden of guaranteeing ration to the
refugees, the sources said.




(the daily star)



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