DHAKA: “Myanmar is my birthplace and I want to go back to Rakhine,” said Abul Hashem, 38, a Rohingya refugee living in Kutupalang Camp in Cox’s Bazar district with his family. But before repatriation, he demands the right to citizenship of Myanmar.
“We want assurance for the basic five human rights — food, clothes, shelter, education and treatment. Otherwise, what will I do going back to Myanmar?” said Hashim to Arab News.
Bangladesh and Myanmar, along with international agencies, are engaged in negotiations over the repatriation of Rohingya refugees.
Three months after receiving the first list of 8,000 Rohingyas, Myanmar has approved only 1,000 for repatriation. The names have been finalized after going through seven phases of scrutiny by Myanmar.
“Our preparation for repatriation on ground level is going on and it is a continuous process,” said Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner Abul Kalam.
He told Arab News that Bangladesh has already completed the physical structure of a “transit camp,” while the other one will be completed in the next three months. Rohingya refugees will be kept in these transit camps for hours or days during the final stage of repatriation.
In reality, the process of repatriation is moving very slowly. “It is because Myanmar is not responding promptly, particularly on this issue,” said a high official of Bangladesh Foreign Ministry who requested anonymity as he is not authorized to speak about the issue.
Bangladesh authorities have so far been unclear about the fate of the 7,000 from the repatriation list who were not selected.
The two countries are set to hold a joint working group meeting on May 17 in Dhaka, where Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haque and Myanmar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Permanent Secretary Myint Thu will represent their respective sides.
“Our prime and foremost agenda will be speedy repatriation of the Rohingya refugees,” said a Bangladesh Foreign Ministry source.
This slow process of repatriation has created much frustration among the diplomats in Dhaka.
“After three months they are accepting only 1,000 Rohingyas. It doesn’t reflect the seriousness of commitment,” said Humayun Kabir, former Bangladeshi ambassador to the US.
He added that the US tried to “push a strong decision” against Myanmar for grave human rights violations during the last UN Security Council session “but unfortunately it could not happen due to a veto by China as they suggested that the issue was resolved bilaterally,” said Humayun.
Bangladesh should increase its diplomatic engagement with China on the issue of Rohingya refugees, he suggested.
Although Bangladesh and the UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, earlier signed a memorandum of understanding over repatriation process, there is no sign of significant development from the UNHCR in Bangladesh yet.
Caroline Gluck, the UNHCR spokesperson in Cox’s Bazar, told Arab News that “a discussion is going on” with Myanmar to finalize the modalities of its engagement in the voluntary repatriation of Rohingyas as the UNHCR is trying to ensure safe repatriation at both ends of Bangladesh and Myanmar.
Bangladesh currently hosts more than 1.3 million Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar District.
Uncertainty grips Rohingyas as Myanmar approves 1,000 for repatriation
Uncertainty grips Rohingyas as Myanmar approves 1,000 for repatriation
- Bangladesh and Myanmar, along with international agencies, are engaged in negotiations over the repatriation of Rohingya refugees
- Three months after receiving the first list of 8,000 Rohingyas, Myanmar has approved only 1,000 for repatriation
Trump ‘very disappointed’ with UK’s Starmer for blocking use of air bases, Telegraph says
- UK PM then said bases could be used in “defensive” operations
- Trump says it took “too long” for Starmer to change his mind
LONDON: Donald Trump said he was “very disappointed” with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer for not allowing the US to use the Diego Garcia air base to carry out strikes on Iran, the Daily Telegraph quoted the US president as saying in an interview.
Britain had reportedly initially denied the US permission to conduct air strikes from its bases, but on Sunday evening Starmer said he was accepting a request for their use in any “defensive” strikes the US wanted to make against Iranian targets.
In an interview published on Monday Trump told the British newspaper that it took “too long” for Starmer to change his mind.
“That’s probably never happened between our countries before,” he told the Telegraph, adding: “It sounds like he was worried about the legality.”
Trump said Starmer should have approved from the get-go the American use of Diego Garcia — a strategically important US-UK air base in the Indian Ocean — saying Iran was responsible for killing “a lot of people from your country.”
Britain was not involved in the joint US-Israel air strikes on Iran that killed the country’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Saturday.
Since attacks on Iran started on Saturday, Iran has been targeting Gulf countries with missiles, and on Sunday an Iranian-made drone hit Britain’s RAF Akrotiri base in Cyprus, causing limited damage and no casualties.
Trump said it was “useful” that the US would now be able to launch operations from Diego Garcia, as he also criticized a deal Starmer has made over the sovereignty of the Chagos Islands, where Diego Garcia is based.
