Working group will be set up within three
weeks but rights groups raise concerns about where returnees will be resettled
By
Oliver Holmes
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Bangladesh’s
Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali and Myanmar’s Kyaw Tint Swe exchange
documents
in Naypyitaw, Myanmar. Photograph: AP
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Myanmar and Bangladesh have signed an initial
deal for the possible repatriation of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims
who fled violence in Rakhine state.
More than 620,000 Rohingya have crossed the
border into Bangladesh since August, running from a military crackdown that
Washington said this week clearly constituted ethnic cleansing.
Rights groups have raised concerns over the
repatriation process, including where the persecuted minority will be resettled
since hundreds of their villages have been razed, and how their safety will be
ensured in a country with raging anti-Muslim sentiment. Some aid workers fear
they could be forcibly interned.
The signing took place after a meeting
between Myanmar’s de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, and the Bangladeshi
foreign minister, Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali in Myanmar’s capital, Naypyidaw.
In brief remarks to the press,Mahmood Ali
said: “This is a primary step. [They] will take back [Rohingya]. Now we have to
start working.”
A joint working group will be set up within
three weeks and an arrangement for repatriation “will be concluded in a speedy
manner”, the Bangladeshi foreign affairs ministry said in a statement. The
return of the refugees should start within two months, it added.
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Myanmar said the deal was based on a 1992/93
repatriation pact between the two countries that followed a previous spasm of
violence.
Myint Kyaing, the permanent secretary of
Myanmar’s ministry of labour, immigration and population, said his country
would accept people with identity documents issued by governments in the past.
Refugees would have to fill in forms with
names of family members, previous addresses in Myanmar, birth dates and a
statement of voluntary return.
“We are ready to take them back as soon as
possible after Bangladesh sends the forms back to us,” he said.
The requirements for identification documents
has been a contentious issue for the stateless Rohingya. Amnesty International
released a report this week accusing Myanmar of effectively denying citizenship
to Rohingya on the basis of their ethnicity, including engaging “in an active
policy of depriving Rohingya of vital identity and residency documentation”.
This includes blocking newborn babies from household lists, it said.
The London-based rights group said this week
that Rohingya lived under state-sponsored, institutionalised discrimination
that amounted to apartheid.
Bangladesh has been overwhelmed by the influx
of people, with crowded refugee camps growing drastically in the southern Cox’s
Bazar region.
Myanmar will hope to ease growing
international pressure by striking the agreement. Pope Francis, who has spoken
about his sympathy for the plight of the Rohingya, is due to visit both
countries next week.
Aung San Suu Kyi’s office released a
statement on Thursday appearing to condemn western countries and the
Organisation of Islamic Cooperation for having “portrayed the matter as an
international issue by passing resolutions at the UN human rights council and
the general assembly of the United Nations”.
The statement said Myanmar’s “principled
position” was that “issues that emerge between neighbouring countries must be
resolved amicably through bilateral negotiations”.
“The present arrangement, which had been
agreed to by both countries based on their friendly and good neighbourly
relations demonstrate the steadfast position of Myanmar and is a win-win
situation for both countries,” it said.
The Rohingya have been the target of communal
violence in mainly Buddhist Myanmar for years. The governmentseverely restricts
their movement and access to basic services.
The latest unrest erupted after Rohingya
rebels attacked police posts on 25 August. The army backlash inflicted violence
across northern Rakhine, with refugees recounting scenes of soldiers and Buddhist
mobs slaughtering villagers and burning down entire communities.
The military denies all allegations but has
restricted access to the conflict zone. The Myanmar government has blocked
visas for a UN-fact finding mission tasked with investigating allegations of
military abuse.
Reuters and Agence France-Presse contributed
to this report.
