Government wants to send up to 100,000 Rohingya back to Myanmar in the first batch of repatriations of Muslim refugees who fled ethnic violence this year, officials said Friday.
The road transport and bridges minister Obaidul Quader said a list of 100,000 names was to be sent to Myanmar authorities on Friday so repatriations could start in late January under an accord between the two governments.
More than 655,000 Rohingya from Myanmar’s Rakhine state have sought refuge in Bangladesh since a military crackdown in late August, fleeing what the US and UN have described as ethnic cleansing.
That added to more than 300,000 in camps in Bangladesh after fleeing earlier violence in the Buddhist majority state.
The two governments signed an agreement in November allowing for repatriations from Jan. 23. Many aid groups and diplomats doubt that fearful Rohingya will agree to return.
The Rohingya have been the target of past pogroms in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, which does not recognize the group as a genuine ethnicity and has stripped them of citizenship.
Quader said repatriations would start as soon as a working group of officials from the two countries finalize a list of names.
“Based on the decision of the joint working group, a first list of 100,000 Rohingya will be sent to the Myanmar government today for their safe and honorable return,” Quader, road transport minister and deputy leader of the ruling Awami League, told reporters during a visit to Cox’s Bazar where the refugee camps are.
“The next meeting of the working group, which will be held in Myanmar, will decide how the repatriation process begins,” Quader added.
“This list will be finalized as early as possible. The repatriation process will begin after the list is finalized.”
Abul Kalam Azad, the government relief commissioner for Rohingya refugees, said a decision was made on Thursday by Bangladeshi members of the repatriation working group to send a list of 100,000 refugees to Myanmar.
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