The long-awaited repatriation of Rohingyas is going to start from November 15 (Thursday). In the first batch, a total of 2,261 Rohingyas of 485 families will be repatriated.
Myanmar has formally agreed to start the repatriation through a letter addressed to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) on Monday.
Myanmar Ambassador in Dhaka U Lwin Oo said his country is fully prepared to receive the first batch. He had a meeting with the officials concerned at MoFA in Dhaka on Monday evening.
"We are happy that we have been able to start the repatriation. The first batch will be repatriated on November 15," he told the FE after the meeting.
"We have discussed details of the repatriation process," he added.
According to the decision taken at the meeting, everyday 150 Rohingyas will be repatriated, and the process will continue up to November 30.
Since August 25, 2017, nearly 7.5 million Rohingya people were forced to flee their native homes in Rakhine state in the face of brutal persecution carried out by the Myanmar army.
Since then Bangladesh has been providing food and shelter to the homeless Rohingyas.
According to sources, Myanmar has finally agreed to take back the Rohingyas due to worldwide criticism against the country.
Myanmar is now scrutinising a list of 22,600 Rohingyas, sent by Bangladesh to that country. After verification they will be repatriated, MoFA officials said.
Some 150 Rohingyas will be sent to Myanmar by waterways from Teknaf on November 15, and they will be received at the reception camp set up in Nga Khu Ya area in Rakhine state.
Later, they will be repatriated to houses built by Myanmar government in Rakhine, officials further said.
Meanwhile, UN Special Envoy on Myanmar Christine Schraner Burgener has an hour-long meeting with Foreign Minister A H Mahmood Ali on Monday evening.
They discussed about the repatriation issue, but neither of them disclosed the outcome of the meeting.
"We have a good discussion," said Christine before leaving the state guest house Padma, where the meeting took place.
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in a statement, received in Dhaka on Monday, said the repatriation of refugees is premised upon their free and informed decision, on an individual basis, to return.
"Refugee returns should only take place at their freely expressed wish, based on relevant and reliable knowledge of the conditions within the country of origin and the area of return".
It further said the best way to provide that knowledge to Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh is to allow them to go and see the conditions in Myanmar for themselves.
Myanmar authorities concerned should allow these refugees to undertake such go-and-see visits without prejudice to their rights to return at a later date, it added.
Reuters adds: 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, as Myanmar prepares to receive them, a Rohingya leader said on Monday.
"Most of the people on the list have fled to avoid being repatriated," said Abdus Salam, a Rohingya leader at Jamtoli camp, some 40 km southeast of Cox's Bazar.
Most have fled to other neighbouring camps to avoid being detected and forced to return against their will.
"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 Kutupalong camp to evade repatriation.
Last week, more than 20 individuals on the list of potential returnees, submitted by Bangladesh, told Reuters they would refuse to return to Rakhine state, from where they fled, saying that they were terrified.
Bangladesh said it would not force anyone to return and asked 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 has not yet begun.
UN 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.
However, Abul Kalam, Bangladesh Relief and Repatriation Commissioner, said he is hopeful the process could begin on Thursday.
"The return will be voluntary. Nobody will be forced to go back," he also said.
Bangladesh and Myanmar agreed in late October to begin repatriation of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees.
"It depends on the other country, whether this will actually happen or not. But we must be ready from our side. We have done that," Win Myat Aye, Myanmar's Minister for Social Welfare and Resettlement, told a news conference, referring to Bangladesh.
He said preparations have been made for 2,251 people to be transported to two transit centres by boat on Thursday, while a second group of 2,095 could follow later by road.
Once processed, they would be sent to another centre where they would be housed, fed, and asked to build homes via cash-for-work schemes.
The returnees would only be allowed to travel within Maungdaw township, one of the three areas they fled, and only if they accepted National Verification Cards, an identity document most Rohingya rejected because they said it brands them as foreigners. Many Rohingyas, who have been left stateless, oppose going back without guarantees of citizenship and freedom of movement.
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