Rohingya repatriation may start by December
Rohingya repatriation may begin by the end of this year, said Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen yesterday.
He made the comment ahead of August 25, the fifth anniversary of the latest Rohingya influx from Myanmar.
"We hope the repatriation will start by the end of this year… They [Rohingyas] are becoming a burden for us," he told journalists after a meeting of the National Taskforce on Rohingyas.
Representatives from UN Resident Coordinator, UN Refugee Agency, International Organization for Migration, UN Food Programme, Unicef and UN Population Fund were present at the meeting.
Besides, the officials of the home, foreign, and disaster management ministries were there.
The meeting was held just a day before UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy on Myanmar Noeleen Heyzer's visits Bangladesh.
She would be visiting Bangladesh today following her visit to Myanmar where she highlighted Myanmar's responsibility for conducive conditions for the voluntary, safe, dignified and sustainable return of the Rohingyas.
At the meeting, Masud said UN presented the quick impact projects that the UN agencies are implementing in Rakhine villages.
Besides, China, Japan and India are also working to improve conditions there, he added.
The Bangladesh government sought more information from the UN agencies on the projects they are implementing, including the videos, so that those can be presented before the Rohingyas as a confidence-building measure, he added.
The foreign secretary said the taskforce has adopted two policies -- skill development and capacity building -- so that Rohingyas can use it after returning to Myanmar.
An important update was that the WFP will soon start providing food assistance to the 30,000 Rohingyas moved to Bhasan Char from Cox's Bazar.
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