Myanmar to start taking back Rohingyas from BD in 2 months

Myanmar will start the process of repatriating Rohingya refugees living in Bangladesh’s camps within two months in ‘a breakthrough’ in bilateral relations, the foreign secretary has said. M Shahidul Haque said Myanmar will start the process of taking back 2,415 of its nationals it verified earlier. The decision was conveyed at the secretary-level talks on Sunday. Myanmar’s Deputy Foreign Minister U Thant Kyaw led his side to the meeting, known as ‘Foreign Office Consultation’. Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haque told journalists after the meeting both sides agreed on a number of measures to take the relations forward. Bangladesh gave shelter to thousands of refugees who fled the Rakhine province after sectarian clashes over the years. The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, put the number in Bangladesh at over 200,000 with 30,000 documented refugees living in two government-run camps –the Kutupalong and Nayapara – within 2 kilometres of the Myanmar border. Some estimates suggest more than 500,000 are living outside the camps in Bangladesh. According to the foreign ministry, Myanmar took back more than 200,000 of their nationals between 1991 and 2005. The process has since stalled and Myanmar even declined to recognise those living inside Bangladesh as its nationals, according to bdnews24.com.