Arakan News Agency
Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Mahmoud Ali said on Monday that the representative of Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi had agreed to set up a working group to coordinate the return of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees who had fled to Bangladesh.
“The talks took place in a friendly atmosphere and Myanmar presented a proposal for the repatriation of the Rohingya refugees,” Ali said after meeting with Myanmar government representative Kyaw Tint Sui in Dhaka. “The two sides agreed on a proposal to set up a joint working group to coordinate the return process.”
Suu Kyi, who was strongly criticized for not reacting to the military campaign against the Rohingya, confirmed in a letter last month that her country would repatriate the refugees whose identities had been verified. It would be based on criteria set by the countries in 1993, when tens of thousands of Rohingya were repatriated.
The minister did not give a timeframe for the refugees’ return, but he made it clear that their identities would be verified through a joint working group, in which the United Nations would not intervene. There was no immediate comment from Suu Kyi’s representative.
The Rohingya minority has not received citizenship from Myanmar, although many of its members have lived in the country for generations. The army insists they crossed the border from Bangladesh.
