Repatriation: Myanmar, Rohingya leaders agree on talks
The visiting Myanmar delegation and Rohingya representatives yesterday agreed to participate in a joint dia-logue on the repatriation issues.
Apart from representatives from Myanmar and the Rohingya community, representatives of Bangladesh and UN agencies would take part in the dialogue.
The decision was made yesterday after a meeting between the representatives of Rohingyas and Myanmar delegation at Kutupalong Rohingya camp in Ukhiya upazila.
However, the time, date, and venue of the dialogue could not be known.
Myanmar Foreign Affairs Permanent Secretary Myint Thu led the Myanmar delegation. The delegation had officials from its social welfare ministry and the Union Enterprise for Humanitarian Assistance, Resettlement and Development in Rakhine.
Some 35 Rohingyas represented their community.
A delegation of Asean’s disaster management unit, AHA Centre, also visited the Rohingya camp.
The Rohingyas said they placed a set of demands before the Myanmar delegation when the team urged them to return home.
Some Rohingyas who attended the meeting said they could not be sanguine on safe environment in Myan-mar for their repatriation.
The visiting team landed in Cox’s Bazar at 10:00am. Before visiting the camps, they had meetings with gov-ernment officials and representatives of international agencies.
Bangladesh and Myanmar signed the repatriation deal on November 23, 2017.
On January 16, 2018, Bangladesh and Myanmar signed a document on “Physical Arrangement”, which was supposed to facilitate the return of the Rohingyas to their homeland.
The “Physical Arrangement” stipulates that the repatriation would be completed preferably within two years from the start.
The first batch of Rohingyas was scheduled to return on November 15 last year but it was halted amid unwill-ingness of the Rohingyas due to a lack of congenial environment in Rakhine.
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