Repatriation should start

• Leaders of US Foreign Affairs Committee call for immediate prosecution of top Myanmar military commanders for 'genocide'

Singapore's Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said Myanmar should start repatriating the Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh, and it must ensure that they return to a society where there is security, peace, justice and better prospects for everyone.

"The next step has to be repatriation, since there was an agreement signed between Myanmar and Bangladesh, in fact, in November last year," The Strait Times quoted him as  saying.

"It is now September. At some point, in order to remain credible, you have to see some movement... on a voluntary basis; you need to see that they are able to move back in a dignified, safe manner. That's the next step and it's an important confidence-building step," Dr Balakrishnan told Singapore media in New York on Saturday.

At an Asean meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, the key point made to Myanmar was that "we stand ready to help", said Dr Balakrishnan.

"Asean will work with Myanmar to facilitate this process (repatriation)," he said. "This is something we will have to watch in the next few weeks, next few months."

He also urged an impartial probe by the Independent Commission of Enquiry appointed by the Myanmar government in July to collect evidence of serious international crimes committed in Myanmar. 

But he urged focus on the humanitarian crisis. "Right now, there are a million people suffering. There's a humanitarian disaster… unacceptable in this day and age," said the minister.

"These people need help and we have to make sure humanitarian assistance reaches them. And we're also grateful to Bangladesh for hosting them in the interim."

Meanwhile, leaders of the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee have called for immediate prosecution of top military commanders of Myanmar in a credible and competent international court for their complicity in crimes against humanity that have all the hallmarks of genocide.

US Representatives Steve Chabot, senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Eliot L Engel and Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Edward R Royce also called for the release of the two Reuters journalists sentenced unjustly, reports our diplomatic correspondent.

 "This legislation calls for the release of the Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, who were unjustly sentenced earlier this month, and states the House's position that the atrocities committed by the Burmese military against the Rohingya were genocide," they said in a statement on Friday.