A joint working group would also be established within three weeks to oversee all the aspects of the return according to the MoU signed in Nay Pyi Taw on Thursday between Union Minister for the Office of State Counsellor U Kyaw Tint Swe and Bangladesh Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mamood.

Both Bangladesh and Myanmar also agreed that they would seek the assistance of the United Nations agencies if needed in the process of the repatriation of the over 600,000 Muslim people from northern Rakhine. 

“UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) and other mandated UN agencies as well as interested international partners would be invited to take part, as appropriate, in various stages of return and resettlement and to assist returnees to carry on life as members of Myanmar society,” the MoU said.

The MoU covers only refugees who fled to Bangladesh after the October 9, 2016, fighting and after the August 25 attacks by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) terrorist group on government security outposts in Rakhine that sparked severe military reprisals.

“The repatriation of residents who crossed over to Bangladesh earlier will be considered separately on the conclusion of the present arrangement,” the MOU said.

Under the agreement, Bangladesh will gather all the personal information and details from the refugees and Myanmar will conduct verification on these data.

“There shall be no restriction on the number of persons to be repatriated, so long as they can establish bona fide evidence of their residence in Myanmar,” it said.

In case of disputes over the eligibility of refugees to return to Myanmar, the two sides shall review all the documents and resolve such cases, but the final decision will be made by Myanmar, it added.

The government has already built several resettlement sites for the refugees who would return to northern Rakhine, these include in the villages of Taung Pyo Letwe and Nga Khu Ya in Maungdaw township.

The August 25 violence in northern Rakhine resulted in the deaths of hundreds of people and the burning of villages that forced over 600,000 people to flee their homes and crossed over to Bangladesh.

Most Myanmar people consider the majority of Muslims in Rakhine illegal immigrants from Bangladesh despite the latter having lived in the area for generations.

Thursday’s refugee deal between Myanmar and Bangladesh came ahead of the visit of Pope Francis in Myanmar and Bangladesh, in which the pontiff is likely to discuss the crisis with the leaders of both countries.

The pontiff, which is due to arrive in Yangon later in the day, was scheduled to meet with senior government officials, including de facto leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services Senior General Min Aung Hlaing.

Source: https://www.mmtimes.com/news/refugee-repatriation-begin-mid-january-memorandum.html