Rohingya flee from Bangladesh camps – Myanmar prepares for 1st returnees

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COX’S BAZAR, Bangladesh/YANGON, Nov 12, (RTRS): Dozens of Rohingya Muslim families on a list of refugees set to be repatriated to Myanmar later this week have fled from camps in Bangladesh where they were living, a Rohingya leader said on Monday, even as Myanmar prepares to begin receiving them.

“Most of the people on the list have fled to avoid being repatriated,” said Abdus Salam, a Rohingya leader at the Jamtoli camp, some 40 km (25 miles) southeast of Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh, adding most have fled to other neighbouring camps to avoid being detected and forced to return against their will.

Bangladesh and Myanmar agreed in late October to begin repatriation of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees who fled Myanmar to escape an army crackdown, even though the United Nations’ refugee agency and aid groups say doubts persist about their safety and conditions in Myanmar should they return.

The repatriation of the first batch of 2,000 refugees is set to officially begin on Nov 15 and officials in Myanmar said on Sunday they were ready to begin receiving refugees this week. “It depends on the other country, whether this will actually happen or not,” Win Myat Aye, Myanmar’s Minister for Social Welfare and Resettlement, told a news conference, referring to Bangladesh. “But we must be ready from our side. We have done that.” Last week, more than 20 individuals on the list of potential returnees submitted by Bangladesh told Reuters they would refuse to return to Myanmar’s western Rakhine state, from where they fled, saying that they were terrified.

Bangladesh has said it would not force anyone to return and has asked the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to verify whether those shortlisted are willing to go back. Firas Al-Khateeb, a UNHCR representative in Bangladesh, told Reuters on Sunday that this effort had not yet begun. “People are so afraid of being identified, they are avoiding Friday prayers at the mosque,” said one refugee, who has fled with his family from Jamtoli to the large Kutupalong camp to evade repatriation.

The United Nations has said conditions are not yet safe for the refugees to go back, in part because Myanmar Buddhists have been protesting against the return of Rohingya

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