"Two years ago ethnic cleansing by the army forced 700,000 Muslim Rohingyas to flee Rakhine state, in western Myanmar, and seek sanctuary across the border in Bangladesh. On August 22nd, outside dismal refugee camps near Cox’s Bazar, buses and lorries lined up for the first of many envisaged repatriations taking Rohingyas back home. But there was a hitch: not a single Rohingya came forward. Nor will many change their minds soon. Predominantly Buddhist Myanmar denies citizenship to the persecuted Rohingyas. The word means people from Rakhine, yet the government claims they are not Burmese but “Bengali” impostors. Having been refused formal id cards, it is impossible for many Rohingyas to prove that they used to live in Myanmar, one of the government’s conditions for repatriation. Besides, what is there to go back to? Their former villages have been razed. Rohingyas who remain in Rakhine now live in camps, too..."