Myanmar and Bangladesh will start a fresh attempt next week to repatriate thousands of Rohingya Muslims who fled violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine state nearly a year after a major attempt failed. More than 730,000 Rohingya fled Rakhine for neighbouring Bangladesh after a military-led crackdown in August 2017, which the United Nations (UN) said, was perpetrated with “genocidal intent”, but many refugees refuse to go back, fearing more violence. A total of 3,540 refugees have been cleared for return to Myanmar from a list of more than 22,000 names recently sent by Bangladesh, officials told Reuters.
The first group of refugees would return to Myanmar next week. “We have agreed to the repatriation of 3,540 people on Aug 22,” Myint Thu, said. Previous attempts at persuading Rohingya to return to Rakhine have failed due to opposition from refugees. An effort in November sowed fear and confusion in the camps, and finally failed after refugee protests.
