Friday, Nov 01, 2024 13:37PM

Rohingya return to Myanmar: Confusion and fear in refugee camps

Rohingya return to Myanmar: Confusion and fear in refugee camps

BBC News :

Authorities had said they planned to move the first group on Thursday but it is unclear whether they will go ahead.

The UN and rights groups have said no-one should be forced to return, as the situation in Myanmar is not safe.

More than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims and others have fled to Bangladesh over the past year.

They were escaping violence and a military operation in western Rakhine state.

The UN has said senior Myanmar officials should be investigated and tried for genocide over the operation, which the army says was targeting militants.

About 300,000 Rohingya had already fled Myanmar in earlier waves of communal violence.
‘They’re sending us to die’

The refugees are mostly living in basic conditions in sprawling camps near the Bangladeshi border town of Cox’s Bazar.

Myanmar and Bangladesh have agreed they should gradually be returned to Myanmar and thousands of people have been approved for return by Myanmar.

This has led to panic among the refugees, many of whom experienced violence in Myanmar, lost family members or saw their homes burned.

The first group were due to go on Thursday but Mohammad Abul Kalam, Bangladesh’s refugee commissioner, told AFP that none of the 50 families spoken to so far “expressed their willingness to go back under the present circumstances”.

“None feels safe to go back now. We cannot force them to go back against their will,” he said.

The BBC’s Yogita Limaye who is in one of the refugee camps says there is increased security presence with military trucks and busses as well as government officials.

She spoke to a 40-year old man in one of the camps who is on the list to be sent back.

“I’m scared about the repatriation,” he said. “Though they are trying to reassure us, I’m not convinced. I think they might kill us if we go there.”

Like many others he has sent his family into hiding in the camps. He said the only condition under which they were prepared to return to Myanmar was if they were given citizenship.

“If we have to go back, that is our fate. But I feel they will be sending us there to die.”

Another refugee told the BBC he fled with his wife and sons but that many relatives had been killed.

“They brutally tortured us,” he said, breaking down in tears. “The military came to us, they killed our people, threw kids in the fire and also set fire to houses. ”

“I am very disturbed by this talk of going back. How can we go there?”

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