Bangladesh-Myanmar tension eases
Sunday, 25 October 2009
IT will be an exaggeration to say that all is quiet in the south-eastern front. But the friendly volleyball match between the border guards of Bangladesh and Myanmar, played last Wednesday (October 21), symbolises the easing of the tension that had been building up in the bilateral relations of the two countries during the past several months. It is a big relief that Myanmar has formally denied that its armed forces and border guards are in a warlike mobilisation and the government of Bangladesh (GoB) has accepted their explanation. The foreign ministers of the two countries in a meeting, held in Colombo on October 15, allayed the fears, shared in many quarters, that the two countries were precipitously sliding towards an armed confrontation. On the heels of the foreign ministerial-level meeting was held a flag meeting between the border guards of the two countries at Muangdaw in Myanmar on October 21.
The rulers of Myanmar are enigmatic and they act mysteriously. But they have demonstrated over the last four decades that they are quite pragmatic in their regional and international dealings. In the troubled bilateral relationship between Bangladesh and Myanmar, border clashes occur periodically but these have never escalated into war. Even when, back in 1991-92, Myanmar forced tens of thousands of Rohingyas into Bangladesh, Myanmar eventually entered into a negotiated settlement with Bangladesh regarding the repatriation of the Rohingya refugees. (That Myanmar has failed to fully implement the Rohingya repatriation agreements is, however, another issue.) Again, in November 2008, Myanmar despatched warships to the Bay of Bengal to back up its claim to explore gas and oil in the area of the sea, which Bangladesh claims to be within its territorial waters. Bangladesh made a forceful protest and Myanmar withdrew its warships and postponed the work of exploration. The situation this time, thus, seems to be reminiscent of what happened in 1991-92 or in 2008.
There is no dispute over the 230-km land boundary between Bangladesh and Myanmar. An agreement on the demarcation of the boundary was signed in 1998 and has since been implemented. Myanmar claims, and the GoB concur, that the former has been erecting, since March, barbed-wire fences on its side of the border in conformity with the agreement. On the issue of the maritime boundary, Bangladesh has gone to the United Nations for arbitration of its dispute both with Myanmar and India. This has visibly de-escalated the maritime boundary dispute among the three countries.
The trickiest issue of discord in the bilateral relations between Bangladesh and Myanmar is the status of the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. This is actually an extension of Myanmar’s domestic problem. There are as many as 137 ethnic groups in Myanmar, of whom the Rohingyas are in the worst conditions as the Myanmar rulers refuse to recognise them as their citizens. In the run-up to the next general election in Myanmar, scheduled for 2010, repression of the ethnic minorities has intensified and so has further aggravated the Rohingya crisis, to the woe of Bangladesh. The Rohingya refugees are an international issue as much as it is a bilateral issue between Bangladesh and Myanmar.
Bangladesh and Myanmar have nothing to gain from conflicts and confrontation. But they have a world to gain from cooperation, both bilateral and regional. Myanmar is very rich in natural resources and Bangladesh has a better-equipped manpower and economic as well as physical infrastructure. Bangladesh has from the beginning been stressing on such cooperation. Let this feeling be reciprocated by Myanmar, with necessary encouragements from the common regional and international friends of the two countries.
The rulers of Myanmar are enigmatic and they act mysteriously. But they have demonstrated over the last four decades that they are quite pragmatic in their regional and international dealings. In the troubled bilateral relationship between Bangladesh and Myanmar, border clashes occur periodically but these have never escalated into war. Even when, back in 1991-92, Myanmar forced tens of thousands of Rohingyas into Bangladesh, Myanmar eventually entered into a negotiated settlement with Bangladesh regarding the repatriation of the Rohingya refugees. (That Myanmar has failed to fully implement the Rohingya repatriation agreements is, however, another issue.) Again, in November 2008, Myanmar despatched warships to the Bay of Bengal to back up its claim to explore gas and oil in the area of the sea, which Bangladesh claims to be within its territorial waters. Bangladesh made a forceful protest and Myanmar withdrew its warships and postponed the work of exploration. The situation this time, thus, seems to be reminiscent of what happened in 1991-92 or in 2008.
There is no dispute over the 230-km land boundary between Bangladesh and Myanmar. An agreement on the demarcation of the boundary was signed in 1998 and has since been implemented. Myanmar claims, and the GoB concur, that the former has been erecting, since March, barbed-wire fences on its side of the border in conformity with the agreement. On the issue of the maritime boundary, Bangladesh has gone to the United Nations for arbitration of its dispute both with Myanmar and India. This has visibly de-escalated the maritime boundary dispute among the three countries.
The trickiest issue of discord in the bilateral relations between Bangladesh and Myanmar is the status of the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. This is actually an extension of Myanmar’s domestic problem. There are as many as 137 ethnic groups in Myanmar, of whom the Rohingyas are in the worst conditions as the Myanmar rulers refuse to recognise them as their citizens. In the run-up to the next general election in Myanmar, scheduled for 2010, repression of the ethnic minorities has intensified and so has further aggravated the Rohingya crisis, to the woe of Bangladesh. The Rohingya refugees are an international issue as much as it is a bilateral issue between Bangladesh and Myanmar.
Bangladesh and Myanmar have nothing to gain from conflicts and confrontation. But they have a world to gain from cooperation, both bilateral and regional. Myanmar is very rich in natural resources and Bangladesh has a better-equipped manpower and economic as well as physical infrastructure. Bangladesh has from the beginning been stressing on such cooperation. Let this feeling be reciprocated by Myanmar, with necessary encouragements from the common regional and international friends of the two countries.