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Bangladesh said it was fully prepared to repatriate Rohingya refugees to Myanmar, while stressing that it would not force anyone to return home against their will.
Since Thursday morning, four trucks and three buses are stationed in Unchiprang camp at Cox's Bazaar, ready to transport refugees who have been "approved" in a transit camp located at the border – but no refugee was willing to bring them back to Myanmar. far.
Most of those on the list of people allowed to return have been hiding.
Mohammad Abul Kalam, Bangladeshi Commissioner for Refugee Relief and Reintegration, told the Guardian that his team had completed "physical and logistical preparations" to facilitate repatriation.
"We decided to repatriate refugees from Unchiprang camp today," he said. "Our whole team reached camp in the morning. There is also a medical team ready to accompany refugees returning home to the border. If we make people voluntarily willing to return, we will help them to cross the border. "
Abul Kalam emphasized that Bangladesh was "totally committed to the principle of non-refoulement and voluntary repatriation". "We will not force anyone to return to Myanmar against his will," he said.
More than 2,000 Rohingya refugees have been placed on the list approved by Myanmar for return without their consent. Although their plan was to send them back in batches of 150 a day, Wednesday night, almost all of them were hidden in other camps and in the nearby forest, fearing to be sent to Myanmar against their relatives. will.
A few hours before the start of the repatriation, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees had located only 50 families on the list, all of whom declared that they did not want to return to Myanmar under the current conditions.
However, while Abu Kalam acknowledged that most Rohingya were still too afraid to return, he insisted: "At least some Rohingya, we believe, are ready to return to Myanmar now. We try to reach them in different camps. We are ready to help them return to Myanmar. "
The 420 who would be willing to return would be 420 Hindus – but Kalam said they were concentrating on repatriating the Rohingyas for the time being and that they would repatriate these Hindus later.
Mohammad Idris, A Rohingya community leader who was attending a meeting at Unchiprang camp on Thursday morning said that the 50 camp families listed for return had "disappeared from their huts three or four days ago and that officials Have not managed to find them. "
He added: "Since this morning, the army and police have surrounded the camp. Refugees and other administrative officials held meetings with Majhis and other leaders of the Rohingya community to seek their help in persuading the refugees on the list to return to Myanmar. "
The Rohingyas explained to the Guardian the many ways in which the Bangladeshi authorities were trying to "persuade" the refugees to return, telling them that it was the only way they could get the Myanmar government to grant them rights and their citizenship.
They also made direct threats. Saifullah, who lives in Balukhali camp, said the CIC (camp official) warned Majhis of "harsh measures" if the Rohingyas on the repatriation list did not return to Myanmar.
"The ICC told the Rohingya refugees that they would face difficulties if they did not return to Myanmar," he said. "They threaten to stop providing rations to refugees, claiming that they will not be able to work with different NGOs and that they will not have the freedom to move freely."
The UN has called on both governments to put an end to "rushed" repatriation plans, but pleas seem to have fallen on deaf ears. Bangladesh, however, tried to dispel the panic by ordering NGOs to maintain its commitment to voluntary return and to ensure that all NGOs continue their work as usual.
More than 700,000 Rohingya refugees living in Cox Bazar fled the brutal crackdown by the Myanmar army in August 2017, described as genocide by the UN fact-finding mission. Women were raped, children massacred and thousands of dead, while most Rohingya villages in Rakhine State were burned.
According to the head of the UN investigation mission, the Rakhine genocide against the Muslim minority was ongoing and demonstrations took place this week among Rakhine Buddhist communities who protested the return of the Rohingya .
Myanmar insisted that it was ready for returns and blamed the delay on Bangladesh's door. Officials said that refugees from Cox's Bazaar would be accommodated in one of two centers built by Bangladesh and then shipped to Myanmar by boat or by land to the Hla Po Khaung Transition Camp in the state. from Rakhine.
The Myanmar government assured the international community that the Rohingya would then be housed in new houses built in Maungdaw, one of the three neighborhoods in which the Rohingya lived before the crackdown, although they were not allowed to move outside the township. Most of them will not be able to return to their homes and villages as they were destroyed by the military.
