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Rohingya refugees refused Thursday to leave their camps in Bangladesh and return to Myanmar, which violently expelled them last year, indicating the apparent failure of the first concerted effort by both nations to begin.
Myanmar and Bangladesh agreed last month to start large-scale repatriation Rohingya on Thursday, with Myanmar saying it would allow some 2,200 to return. Rights groups, the U.S. government and the United Nations have criticized the plan.
By 2 p.m. Thursday, when Bangladeshi authorities said the operation would begin, that they would have prepared to carry out refugees to the border, according to a Rohingya activist in one of the camps. Hundreds of Rohingya men gathered in the Unchiprang refugee camp to protest the move, with leaders chanting slogans opposing repatriation. They held signs that said, "We want justice" and "We never return to Myanmar without our Rohingya rights."
"Everyone is terrified of being repatriated," said Khin Maung, a Rohingya refugee and activist who fled last year's violence along with more than 700,000 others. He was not involved in Thursday's protests.
Until their expulsion last year, many of the mostly Muslim Rohingya had lived for generations in the Buddhist-majority Myanmar, where they were admitted as illegal immigrants. Despite evidence of what the United States has described as being an ethnic cleansing, Myanmar's government has refused to commit a large-scale atrocities and has stated its military operations in the country.
In recent days, Rohingya, where the authorities have been appointed to the country by the authorities, and the authorities in the country, and the authorities, have decided to proceed to a meeting of the Rohingya refugees. Those slated for return were chosen by the Bangladeshi authorities, according to Human Rights Watch, a humanitarian group, citing a conversation with Abul Kalam, Bangladesh's refugee relief commissioner. Bangladesh Rohingya to return. "Bangladesh seems unwilling to force people back and forth, if any, want to go," said a Western official monitoring the situation.
Early Thursday, Rohingya was prepared to return to Myanmar. The response: They said, Mr. Khin Maung said. Myanmar has promised returning Rohingya a form of identity that falls short of citizenship, which Rohingya reject and say would cement their second-class status.
The U.N. says it continues to receive reports of arbitrary killings and arrests of Rohingya in Myanmar, and it is not safe for Rohingya to return. Already, two elderly Rohingya men in Bangladesh had attempted suicide rather than face-to-face repatriation, the U.N. said this week.
Nonetheless, Bangladesh and Myanmar have said that they are going to China, which has been pushed for a crisis. In September, on the sidelines of the U.N.General Assembly, China announced an agreement with Bangladesh and Myanmar in which the three countries agreed to begin as early as possible, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry's website.
A Western official familiar with the situation said that Bangladesh's government had gone along with the plan to placate China, partly because it was determined to resolve the problem. Bangladeshi ministers have pledged that all repatriations will be voluntary.
At a press conference Thursday, Myint Thu, an official at Myanmar's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that many Rohingya were hoping to be resettled in a third country like Canada. "It is their decision whether they wish to return to Myanmar or not," he said. A Bangladeshi foreign-affairs minister did not respond to a request to comment.
The Myanmar minister responsible for implementing the repatriations was not available to comment on Thursday; a Bangladeshi foreign-affairs minister did not respond to a similar request.
Now, however, Bangladesh is discovering how difficult it is to find Rohingya volunteers to head back to Myanmar. Many Rohingya have smartphones with internet connections, meaning they could quickly publicize any attempt by Bangladeshi security forces to forcibly expel them. In addition, Bangladesh, by participating in a process that has been adopted by the United States, with a view to reducing the risk of death.
"So far in this story Myanmar is the bad guy and Bangladesh has been the good guy receiving the refugees," said the Western official familiar with the situation. "They are starting to mess with that narrative."
-Myo Myo in Yangon, Myanmar, contributed to this article.
Write to Jon Emont at [email protected]
