Rohingya Repatriaion: Committed to starting it in line with 2017 deal
Myanmar has said it is committed to beginning the Rohingya repatriation as per the bilateral agreement signed with Bangladesh in 2017.
Myanmar's International Cooperation Affairs Minister Kyaw Tin conveyed this message to Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen in a recent letter.
The Myanmar minister also said his country is committed to ensuring peaceful relations with all neighbours, including Bangladesh, and resolving any problems peacefully.
Kyaw Tin said they want to resolve any bilateral issues with neighbours through mutual partnership.
He hoped to begin the repatriation of Rohingyas to Myanmar soon through the tripartite talks held between Bangladesh, Myanmar and China on January 19.
The Myanmar minister agreed with Momen that the countries need solidarity and mutual cooperation in facing the unprecedented challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic.
He mentioned that his country took back Rohingyas in 1978 and 1992 through mutual discussions.
Kyaw Tin wished peace and prosperity for the people of Bangladesh and good health of Momen.
He thanked the Bangladesh foreign minister for writing to him on January 1.
Kyaw Tin and Momen served as permanent representative in the UN for their respective countries and they developed an intimacy at that time, said the Bangladesh foreign ministry.
Earlier, Momen had said Bangladesh has handed over a list of 840,000 Rohingyas to Myanmar for verification.
"Myanmar has verified a very few people. They're very slow. They verified only 42,000 people [5 percent]. There is a serious lack of seriousness," said the foreign minister.
More than three years ago, Myanmar's soldiers "targeted, killed, and raped" Rohingyas and burned their villages, as the United Nations, Refugees International, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the US State Department itself, and many others have documented.
Over 800,000 Rohingyas fled the "genocidal violence". Bangladesh is now hosting over 1.1 million Rohingyas.
Bangladesh and Myanmar had signed the repatriation deal on November 23, 2017. They then signed a document on "Physical Arrangement", which was supposed to facilitate the return of Rohingyas to their homeland.
But repatriation attempts failed twice in November 2018 and August 2019 -- clearly amid Rohingyas' "lack of trust" in the Myanmar government.
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