DHAKA: The formation of a joint working group will be an important step in managing the Rohingya refugee crisis, hopes Asaduzzaman Khan, home affairs minister of Bangladesh.
Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya, a Muslim ethnic minority group, have fled to Bangladesh to escape violence in their home territory of Rakhine state in Myanmar.
Khan met his counterpart Lt. General Kyaw Swe and the state counselor Aung San Suu Kyi in Myanmar at the end of October. He said in an exclusive interview with Arab News that the repatriation process of Rohingya refugees will be governed by a working group comprising an equal number of representatives from Bangladesh and Myanmar.
Bangladesh’s Foreign Minister A. H. Mahmud Ali is also scheduled to visit Myanmar on November 20 where he will discuss the group. Both sides have agreed to finalize the terms of reference by Nov. 30 to proceed with the proposed repatriation plan, Khan said.
The International Organization for Migration estimates that around 625,000 Rohingya Refugees have entered Bangladesh since the violence escalated in Rakhine State on August 25.
The violence targeting Rohingyas, which the UN describes as a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing,” has put the Myanmar government under pressure from the international community.
Khan urged that international community play its due role in addressing the issue. “I think that if the international community shifts eyes from the Rohingya issue, they [Myanmar] will not take any steps on repatriation of the Rohingyas. The international community needs to keep up the pressure in this regard.”
Several news reports published recently suggest that Myanmar will accept only 150 Rohingyas per day after due scrutiny; however, Khan could not verify that, saying no such proposal was formally shared with Bangladesh.
Khan said Dhaka’s stance on refugee repatriation was made clear during his meeting with Myanmar officials.
“Repatriation will have to be based on the decision by the Joint Working Group, the Annan Commission Report (which recommended scrapping restrictions on movement by the Rohingya), and the five points mentioned by our Prime Minister,” he said.
Both countries agreed on “ten points regarding the repatriation process which included the full implementation of the Annan Commission’s report and taking initiatives to stop the Rohingya exodus toward Bangladesh,” claimed Khan, while adding that Myanmar later issued a separate statement and excluded the “agreed” points.
“As they excluded full implementation of Annan Commission issue, I asked the Bangladeshi ambassador not to sign the joint statement.”
Khan expressed hope that the issue of joint statement will be resolved soon. “We are still working on it,” he said.
Bangladesh has been affected by the Rohingya refugee issue for the past four decades. Rohingyas are confined to Rakhine State and have very little scope of trade and livelihood, which makes their life very difficult. The minister said he also discussed this aspect with Suu Kyi and found her “very positive in this regard.”
“At one point Suu Kyi said she was thinking of making some villages for the Rohingyas which would include all the living facilities for rehabilitation.”
Khan added: “I told Suu Kyi that if the Rohingyas stay in Bangladesh for longer, it will be a problem for both Bangladesh and Myanmar. Suu Kyi assured me that she has started working on the implementation of Annan Commission report which recommended the repatriation of Rohingyas.”
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Working group could help solve Rohingya refugee crisis
Working group could help solve Rohingya refugee crisis
China’s top diplomat to visit Somalia on Africa tour
- Stop in Mogadishu provides diplomatic boost after Israel became the first country to formally recognize breakaway Somaliland
- Tour focusses on Beijing's strategic trade access across eastern and southern Africa
BEIJING: China’s top diplomat began his annual New Year tour of Africa on Wednesday, focusing on strategic trade access across eastern and southern Africa as Beijing seeks to secure key shipping routes and resource supply lines.
Foreign Minister Wang Yi will travel to Ethiopia, Africa’s fastest-growing large economy; Somalia, a Horn of Africa state offering access to key global shipping lanes; Tanzania, a logistics hub linking minerals-rich central Africa to the Indian Ocean; and Lesotho, a small southern African economy squeezed by US trade measures. His trip this year runs until January 12.
Beijing aims to highlight countries it views as model partners of President Xi Jinping’s flagship “Belt and Road” infrastructure program and to expand export markets, particularly in young, increasingly affluent economies such as Ethiopia, where the IMF forecasts growth of 7.2 percent this year.
China, the world’s largest bilateral lender, faces growing competition from the European Union to finance African infrastructure, as countries hit by pandemic-era debt strains now seek investment over loans.
“The real litmus test for 2026 isn’t just the arrival of Chinese investment, but the ‘Africanization’ of that investment. As Wang Yi visits hubs like Ethiopia and Tanzania, the conversation must move beyond just building roads to building factories,” said Judith Mwai, policy analyst at Development Reimagined, an Africa-focussed consultancy.
“For African leaders, this tour is an opportunity to demand that China’s ‘small yet beautiful’ projects specifically target our industrial gaps, turning African raw materials into finished products on African soil, rather than just facilitating their exit,” she added.
On his start-of-year trip in 2025, Wang visited Namibia, the Republic of Congo, Chad and Nigeria.
His visit to Somalia will be the first by a Chinese foreign minister since the 1980s and is expected to provide Mogadishu with a diplomatic boost after Israel became the first country to formally recognize the breakaway Republic of Somaliland, a northern region that declared itself independent in 1991.
Beijing, which reiterated its support for Somalia after the Israeli announcement in December, is keen to reinforce its influence around the Gulf of Aden, the entrance to the Red Sea and a vital corridor for Chinese trade transiting the Suez Canal to Europe.
Further south, Tanzania is central to Beijing’s plan to secure access to Africa’s vast copper deposits. Chinese firms are refurbishing the Tazara Railway that runs through the country into Zambia. Li Qiang made a landmark trip to Zambia in November, the first visit by a Chinese premier in 28 years.
The railway is widely seen as a counterweight to the US and European Union-backed Lobito Corridor, which connects Zambia to Atlantic ports via Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
By visiting the southern African kingdom of Lesotho, Wang aims to highlight Beijing’s push to position itself as a champion of free trade. Last year, China offered tariff-free market access to its $19 trillion economy for the world’s poorest nations, fulfilling a pledge by Chinese President Xi Jinping at the 2024 China-Africa Cooperation summit in Beijing.
Lesotho, one of the world’s poorest nations with a gross domestic product of just over $2 billion, was among the countries hardest hit by US President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs last year, facing duties of up to 50 percent on its exports to the United States.
Foreign Minister Wang Yi will travel to Ethiopia, Africa’s fastest-growing large economy; Somalia, a Horn of Africa state offering access to key global shipping lanes; Tanzania, a logistics hub linking minerals-rich central Africa to the Indian Ocean; and Lesotho, a small southern African economy squeezed by US trade measures. His trip this year runs until January 12.
Beijing aims to highlight countries it views as model partners of President Xi Jinping’s flagship “Belt and Road” infrastructure program and to expand export markets, particularly in young, increasingly affluent economies such as Ethiopia, where the IMF forecasts growth of 7.2 percent this year.
China, the world’s largest bilateral lender, faces growing competition from the European Union to finance African infrastructure, as countries hit by pandemic-era debt strains now seek investment over loans.
“The real litmus test for 2026 isn’t just the arrival of Chinese investment, but the ‘Africanization’ of that investment. As Wang Yi visits hubs like Ethiopia and Tanzania, the conversation must move beyond just building roads to building factories,” said Judith Mwai, policy analyst at Development Reimagined, an Africa-focussed consultancy.
“For African leaders, this tour is an opportunity to demand that China’s ‘small yet beautiful’ projects specifically target our industrial gaps, turning African raw materials into finished products on African soil, rather than just facilitating their exit,” she added.
On his start-of-year trip in 2025, Wang visited Namibia, the Republic of Congo, Chad and Nigeria.
His visit to Somalia will be the first by a Chinese foreign minister since the 1980s and is expected to provide Mogadishu with a diplomatic boost after Israel became the first country to formally recognize the breakaway Republic of Somaliland, a northern region that declared itself independent in 1991.
Beijing, which reiterated its support for Somalia after the Israeli announcement in December, is keen to reinforce its influence around the Gulf of Aden, the entrance to the Red Sea and a vital corridor for Chinese trade transiting the Suez Canal to Europe.
Further south, Tanzania is central to Beijing’s plan to secure access to Africa’s vast copper deposits. Chinese firms are refurbishing the Tazara Railway that runs through the country into Zambia. Li Qiang made a landmark trip to Zambia in November, the first visit by a Chinese premier in 28 years.
The railway is widely seen as a counterweight to the US and European Union-backed Lobito Corridor, which connects Zambia to Atlantic ports via Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
By visiting the southern African kingdom of Lesotho, Wang aims to highlight Beijing’s push to position itself as a champion of free trade. Last year, China offered tariff-free market access to its $19 trillion economy for the world’s poorest nations, fulfilling a pledge by Chinese President Xi Jinping at the 2024 China-Africa Cooperation summit in Beijing.
Lesotho, one of the world’s poorest nations with a gross domestic product of just over $2 billion, was among the countries hardest hit by US President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs last year, facing duties of up to 50 percent on its exports to the United States.
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