UNHCR will determine if Rohingya refugees will accept to return of Myanmar

News24xx.com -  Bangladesh will work with the United Nations refugee agency to determine if more than 3,000 Rohingya refugees will accept Myanmar's offer to return home, officials said, nearly two years after a military crackdown sparked their exodus.

More than 730,000 Rohingya fled Rakhine state for camps in Bangladesh after a military-led offensive in August 2017-  joining 200,000 already there - but virtually none has volunteered to return despite the countries signing a repatriation deal last year.

"It will be a joint exercise led by UNHCR," Abul Kalam, Bangladesh's refugee relief and repatriation commissioner, told Reuters news agency on Monday.

The UN Security Council is due to discuss the latest repatriation plan behind closed doors on Wednesday at the request of France, Britain, the United States, Germany and Belgium, diplomats said.

Myanmar has cleared 3,450 people to make the journey home from a list of more than 22,000 refugees provided by Bangladesh, government spokesman Zaw Htay told a news conference in capital Naypyidaw on Friday.

"We have already negotiated with Bangladesh to accept these 3,450 people on August 22," he said, adding they would be divided into seven groups for repatriation.

According to Kalam, Bangladesh and Myanmar officials plan to repatriate 300 Rohingya each day.

Kalam told reporters on Monday that all the preparations had been made and he was "optimistic" about a new repatriation process scheduled to start on Thursday.

"Nobody will be forced to return unless they volunteer," he said after a meeting with Myanmar officials in Cox's Bazar in southeast Bangladesh, where the refugees live in vast camps.

 

 

 

 

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