Arakan News Agency
Myanmar officials said on Wednesday that the time has come for United Nations agencies to participate in the repatriation of Rohingya Muslims who fled to Bangladesh because of escalating violence against them in Myanmar.
The Permanent Secretary of Myanmar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Myint Tho, said that the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) responded last week to the invitation of the Myanmar government by submitting a proposal currently under consideration.
The US-based ABC Network reported that a Myanmar national speaker had confirmed the sending of a memorandum proposing how agencies could help create conditions for a safe, dignified and voluntary return of refugees.
Human rights experts believe Myanmar’s security can not be guaranteed to more than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims who fled Myanmar to Bangladesh after security forces carried out a harsh crackdown on them in August.
