Dhaka must secure guaranteed security and full commitment from Naypyidaw for Rohingya repatriation before establishing any humanitarian corridor to Myanmar's Rakhine State, said foreign policy analysts.

If any country or humanitarian agency provides aid for Rakhine State, Bangladesh can help supply those to the Arakan Army at the border, said Imtiaz Ahmed, executive director of the Centre for Alternatives.

"And there is no problem with that -- but the idea of a humanitarian corridor being discussed is not clear," he said.

On Saturday, Foreign Adviser Touhid Hossain announced that the interim government has agreed in principle to allow a humanitarian corridor under UN supervision with certain conditions. He did not give further details.

As the UN is proposing such a corridor, it is not clear how it will ensure its security as any such issue will require UN Security Council (UNSC) approval, said Ahmed, also a former professor of international relations at Dhaka University.

"Will the UN take any responsibility if the initiative backfires? Will the UN take responsibility if there is any escalation of conflicts in the humanitarian corridor?" Ahmed said.

The UN has been seeking a humanitarian corridor to provide aid to the people in Rakhine State, which, according to a UNDP report in November last year, faces imminent threat of acute famine.

Predictions indicated that by March-April 2025, domestic food production would only cover 20 percent of the population's needs. Combined with the near-total halt on trade, over 2 million people were at risk of starvation, it said.

"Will the UN take any responsibility if the initiative backfires? Will the UN take responsibility if there is any escalation of conflicts in the humanitarian corridor?"

— Imtiaz Ahmed, foreign policy expert

Against this backdrop, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who visited Bangladesh in the middle of March, discussed with Bangladesh authorities the possibilities of a humanitarian corridor to Rakhine via Bangladesh, but added that it requires "authorisation and the cooperation of the parties to the conflict".

A UNSC resolution is required for the deployment of UN Peacekeepers, said Niloy Ranjan Biswas, a professor of international relations at Dhaka University.

"It is unlikely that the UNSC permanent members China and Russia would agree to any such proposal if made ever."

For establishing a humanitarian corridor, it is important to ensure full security in Rakhine, he said.

"Myanmar junta and the Arakan Army must have a full ceasefire," Biswas said.

Every day, 30 to 40 Rohingyas are fleeing to Bangladesh, according to Mizanur Rahman, the refugee relief and repatriation commissioner.

On the other hand, Bangladesh has to secure a guarantee that the AA, which now reportedly controls about 80 percent of Rakhine, ensures conditions for Rohingya repatriation, he said.

The Rohingya are demanding a guarantee of citizenship, recognition as an ethnic group and safety in Rakhine from where they fled. Neither the Myanmar civilian administration nor the junta government ensured these demands in the past eight years.

"For Bangladesh, it is now very important to understand the position of the Arakan Army for Rohingya repatriation," Biswas said.

It would have been better if the interim government detailed the conditions for the humanitarian corridor and how the UN proposed to guarantee security and help secure the AA commitment to Rohingya repatriation, he added.

On the sidelines of the BIMSTEC summit in Bangkok in April, Bangladesh's National Security Adviser Khalilur Rahman and Myanmar's Foreign Minister Than Swe held a meeting, where Swe confirmed that 180,000 Rohingya living in Bangladesh are eligible to return.

Bangladesh is informally engaged with the AA.

"Myanmar is our neighbour. We need to consider our future relations with the country -- call it the central government or the Arakan Army -- as we take any policy towards it. We also need to see how the important countries like the US, India and China look at the issue," Ahmed said.

It is essential to ensure that no armed group can take advantage of the humanitarian corridor and fuel conflicts in the region, said a government official involved with the proceedings.