YANGON: Rohingya refugees who return to Myanmar will be safe as long as they stay in the model villages built for them, the country’s army chief has said, renewing fears they will be kept in settlements indefinitely.
Some 700,000 Rohingya Muslims fled Buddhist-majority Myanmar to Bangladesh after the military launched a brutal crackdown on insurgents in August that the US and the UN have called ethnic cleansing.
Myanmar and Bangladesh agreed to repatriate refugees to conflict-hit Rakhine state last year but Rohingya are loathe to come back to a country without guarantees of safety and basic rights such as freedom of movement.
The country’s powerful army chief Min Aung Hlaing compounded those fears when speaking to a visiting delegation from the UN Security Council in the capital Naypyidaw on April 30.
“There is no need to be worried about their security if they stay in the areas designated for them,” he told the delegation, according to a readout of the meeting posted on Min Aung Hlaing’s official Facebook page on Saturday.
He referred to members of the stateless minority as “Bengalis,” reflecting a widespread belief in Myanmar that the Rohingya are immigrants from Bangladesh despite a longstanding presence in Rakhine.
The army chief also cast doubt on the allegations raised by refugees in Bangladesh, many of whom shared stories of extrajudicial killings, arson and rape.
“Bengalis will never say that they arrive there happily. They will get sympathy and rights only if they say that they face a lot of hardships and persecution,” he reportedly said, adding that the issue was “exaggerated.”
The UN has said conditions on the ground are not ripe for the refugees to return, despite Myanmar’s insistence that it is ready even as no large-scale repatriation has occurred.
The government has built transit camps that can accommodate tens of thousands of people and a much smaller number of new houses to replace fire-blackened villages where Rohingya used to live.
The minority community has been persecuted in Myanmar for decades and Rohingya have lived in what rights groups have called apartheid-like conditions, with severe restrictions on movement and access to health services.
More than 120,000 Rohingya still reside in camps for internally displaced people in the Rakhine state capital Sittwe as a result of intercommunal violence in 2012 that killed hundreds.
Dil Mohamed, a Rohingya leader sheltering on the border, told reporters late last month that refugees do not want to stay in any transit camps due to similar concerns that they will be more than temporary.
“We are waiting here only until we are allowed to go back to our home,” he said.
Rohingya will be safe in areas ‘designated’ for them: Myanmar army chief
Rohingya will be safe in areas ‘designated’ for them: Myanmar army chief
- 700,000 Rohingya Muslims fled Buddhist-majority Myanmar to Bangladesh after the military launched a brutal crackdown on insurgents in August that the US and the UN have called ethnic cleansing
- More than 120,000 Rohingya still reside in camps for internally displaced people in the Rakhine state capital Sittwe
Pro-Greenland protesters mock Trump’s MAGA slogan with ‘Make America Go Away’ caps
- European governments are rallying behind Denmark, citing the need to defend Arctic regions and warning that threats against Greenland undermine Western security
COPENHAGEN, Denmark: Red baseball caps spoofing Donald Trump’s iconic MAGA hats have become a symbol of Danish and Greenlandic defiance against the US president’s threat to seize the frozen territory.
The caps reading “Make America Go Away” — parodying Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan — have gained popularity along with several variants on social media and at public protests, including a weekend demonstration held in freezing weather in the Danish capital.
European governments are rallying behind Denmark, citing the need to defend Arctic regions and warning that threats against Greenland undermine Western security.
Protesters, however, are less diplomatic.
“I want to show my support to Greenland and also show that I don’t like the president of the United States,” said 76-year-old Copenhagen resident Lars Hermansen, who wore one of the red caps at a protest Saturday.
The mock hats were created by Copenhagen vintage clothing store owner Jesper Rabe Tonnesen. Early batches flopped last year — until the Trump administration recently escalated its rhetoric over Greenland. Now there are popping up everywhere.
“When a delegation from America went up to Greenland, we started to realize this probably wasn’t a joke — it’s not reality TV, it’s actually reality,” said Tonnesen, 58. “So I said, OK, what can I do?” Can I communicate in a funny way with a good message and unite the Danes to show that Danish people support the people of Greenland?”
Demand suddenly surged from a trickle to selling out in the space of one weekend. Tonnesen said he has now ordered “several thousand.”
The original version designed by Tonnesen featured a play on words: “Nu det NUUK!” — a twist on the Danish phrase “Nu det nok,” meaning “Now it’s enough,” substituting Nuuk, Greenland’s tiny capital.
Protesters at Saturday’s rally waved red-and-white Danish and Greenlandic flags and carried handmade signs mocking US claims over the territory, which is slightly larger than Saudi Arabia.
“No Means No,” read one sign. Another declared, “Make America Smart Again.”
Wearing one of the spoof hats, protester Kristian Boye, 49, said the gathering in front of Copenhagen City Hall struck a lighthearted tone while delivering a serious message.
“I’m here to support the Greenlanders, who are going through a very hard time right now,” he said. “They are being threatened with having their country invaded. I think it’s totally unacceptable.”
