Myanmar 'ready' to accept UN help in Rohingya repatriation

Senior officials in Myanmar announced on Wednesday that they have begun talks with UN agencies to see how they could assist with the repatriation of Rohingya refugees who fled to Bangladesh to escape violence against them.

Foreign Ministry Permanent Secretary Myint Thu said the offices of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and the UN Development Program responded last week with a proposal and concept paper to the government's invitation for UN involvement, which the government is now studying.

"We considered that the time is now appropriate to invite UNHCR and UNDP to be involved in the repatriation and resettlement process, as well as in carrying out activities supporting the livelihoods and development for all communities in Rakhine state," Myint Thu said.

Human rights experts believe safety cannot yet be guaranteed for about 700,000 Rohingya Muslims who fled the western state of Rakhine to Bangladesh after security forces carried out brutal crackdowns in response to attacks by Rohingya insurgents last August.

Antagonism between Rakhine's Buddhist community and Rohingya Muslims led to communal violence in 2012, forcing at least 140,000 Rohingya from their homes into squalid camps for internally displaced people. Most Rohingya are treated as stateless persons with limited rights, and the insurgents drew support from the discontented as prejudice against their community grew in overwhelming Buddhist Myanmar.

Stanislav Saling, a UN spokesman in Myanmar, confirmed that in response to Myanmar's initiative, the UN agencies submitted a note proposing how they could help create conditions "for the safe, dignified and voluntary return for refugees, in line with international principles."

Neither the UN nor the government made public details of the proposal.

The international community has accused Myanmar's military of atrocities against the Rohingya that could amount to ethnic cleansing, but the government and military deny any organised human rights violations.

Myanmar's civilian government led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has pledged to start the gradual repatriation of the Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh.

"We have handed the list of 374 people to the Bangladesh Embassy so that they can immediately start their repatriation," Myint Thu said. "These 374 people can be the first repatriation batch."