Rohingya repatriation halted with no progress in Rakhine

There is no progress in repatriation of Rohingya people of Myanmar to their home in Rakhine State after the first attempt to transfer them from Bangladesh had failed five months ago. 
In violation of agreements signed with Bangladesh and the UN authorities, the Myanmar authorities have kept Rakhine State ‘under iron curtain’ by drastically cutting off access of the humanitarian actors, including the UN, hampering their efforts to create an atmosphere conducive to begin the much awaited repatriation, foreign and local diplomats told New Age on Thursday. 
The UN Refugee Agency had to suspend a project to facilitate the process of repatriation amid objections from the all-powerful Myanmar military in allowing the UNHCR in trouble-torn Rakhine State, a diplomat said. 
in the trouble-torn Rakhine State have also brought down the pace of the process of clearing Rohingya people to ‘dead slow’ from lists provided by the Bangladesh authorities. They cleared about 6,600 Rohingyas from two lists of about 30,500 people provided by Bangladesh since February, 2018. 
Bangladesh and international communities have, however, continued to express their hope without mentioning any time-frame to launch repatriation as a part of a lasting political solution to the crisis. 
‘We hope to begin the process of repatriation at the earliest,’ Bangladesh foreign minister AK Abdul Momen said in reply to a question on whether the governments would be able to launch repatriation by this year. 
Asked about a proposal from Association of Southeast Asian Nations expressing intent to extend active support in repatriation of Rohingya people, a senior Bangladesh diplomat said on Thursday, ‘We see the ASEAN proposal as a first step as there is no sign that the Myanmar authorities would allow the other member countries in the group full access to the region.’ 
‘Myanmar would allow ASEAN only humanitarian access, said the official, adding that, ‘Bangladesh, on the other hand, wants meaningful engagement of the group in the entire process of repatriation.’ 
Incumbent ASEAN chair Thailand communicated the intent in a meeting in Dhaka between Thai foreign minister Don Pramudwinai and his Bangladeshi counterpart AK Abdul Momen on Wednesday, as a follow-up initiated by the immediate past chair Singapore. 
‘The situation in Rakhine State is a complex one. A lasting political solution must be found to put an end to the conflict and the humanitarian crisis,’ Singapore foreign minister Vivian Balakrishnan said recently in a tweet after a meeting with UN secretary general’s special envoy on Myanmar Christine Schraner. 
Bangladesh and Myanmar authorities are yet to agree on a date on holding a meeting of the joint working group headed by foreign secretaries of the two countries in April or May as the Bangladeshi side did not see any substantive progress in Rakhine State to take back the Rohingya people, Bangladesh officials in Cox’s Bazar said. 
For making substantive progress in Rakhine State on starting the repatriation process, engagement of the neighbouring countries of Myanmar and ASEAN would be crucial, a Bangladesh diplomat said adding that, ‘Myanmar has problems with almost all its neighbours, India, China, Laos, Thailand and Bangladesh, on ethnic issues. All of these countries are required to take a joint move.’ 
China and Russia believe that Bangladesh should begin the repatriation process bilaterally with Myanamr without making it an international issue, diplomatic sources said with observations that Bangladesh’s all-weather friend India was maintaining a distance from the process. 
UNHCR assistant high commissioner Volker Turk said in Dhaka on March 21 that the organisation did not have access to northern Rakhine for several months. 
More than 7,00,000 Rohingyas, mostly women, children and aged people, entered Bangladesh after fleeing unbridled murder, arson and rape during ‘security operations’ by Myanmar military in Rakhine, what the United Nations denounced as ethnic cleansing and genocide, beginning from August 25, 2017. 
Bangladesh and Myanmar signed an instrument on November 23, 2017, for repatriation of the Rohingya people maintaining safety, security and dignity of the Rohingyas who crossed over to Bangladesh from Rakhine State only after October 9, 2016, and August 25, 2017.
The UNHCR and the government failed in their first attempt to send the first batch of Rohingya people on November 15 last year as nobody agreed to go back citing absence of environment for return in Rakhine as their demands for ensuring citizenship, safety and security and livelihood options were not met. 
Meanwhile, Bangladesh government is highly unlikely to begin relocation of the Rohingya people to Bhashanchar island under Noakhali district on April 15 as it would take time to complete preparations including the assessment of voluntariness in this regard, a senior member of the national taskforce on Rohingya issues said. 
The ongoing Rohingya influx took the number of undocumented Myanmar nationals and registered refugees in Bangladesh to about 11,16,000, according to estimates by UN agencies and Bangladesh foreign ministry.
 

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net