Myanmar officials show refugee processing centers to ambassadors, UN agencies

2018-02-15

A group of foreign ambassadors and United Nations officials arrive in Sittwe, capital of western Myanmar's Rakhine state, to tour processing centers for returning Rohingya refugees, Feb. 15, 2018. RFA

Ambassadors from more than 10 countries and United National officials visited troubled Maungdaw township in Myanmar's Rakhine state on Thursday to tour the Myanmar government's repatriation processing facilities for returning Rohingya refugees.

The group included ambassadors from Egypt, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Finland, Israel, Italy, and Sir Lanka; diplomats from Brazil, Poland, Sweden, Denmark, and New Zealand; and officials from UNICEF, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, U.N. Human Settlements Programme, U.N. Development Programme, and the U.N. Office for Project Services.

Accompanied by Rakhine state chief-minister Nyi Pu and Win Myat Aye, Myanmar's minister of social welfare, relief, and resettlement, the group visited two repatriation centers at Taung Pyo Letwe and Nga Khu Ya, the Hla Pho Khaung transit camp, and facilities in the Kanyin Chaung border economic zone.

Nyi Pu urged the members of the group to work with the Myanmar government to help resolve Rakhine state's problems so that the region can realize peace and stability.

"I would like to urge you to observe with fairness the on-the-ground situation and to work with us to achieve the best results from what we are working on in Rakhine in the future," he told the group at the airport in Rakhine's capital Sittwe. "I also would like to urge you to share your experiences from this trip with other countries, so that they will know the true situation in Rakhine."

Myanmar has not yet begun processing some of the hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees who have fled to Bangladesh from three townships in northern Rakhine since August 2017 when the country's military conducted a brutal military crackdown in response to deadly attacks on police outposts by a Muslim militant group.

Though Myanmar signed an agreement with neighboring Bangladesh to begin repatriating refugees who wanted to voluntarily return to Rakhine in late January, the program has been beset by delays, with each side blaming problems on the other.

Both national and state government officials have been arranging tours of the repatriation facilities for foreign diplomats and U.N. officials in a bid to demonstrate their willingness and preparedness to take back the Rohingya, who are considered illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and systematically discriminated against in Buddhist-majority Myanmar.

On Feb. 6, Thaung Tun, Myanmar's national security advisor and minister of the recently created Office of the Union Government, led a delegation of diplomats from China, India, and Singapore along with officials from the Bangladeshi embassy in Myanmar on a tour of the two refugee reception centers and transit camp.

UN Security Council briefing

The latest diplomatic tour of the repatriation centers comes two days after the U.N. Security Council held a briefing session on the situation in northern Rakhine, during which some nations called for guarantees for the safe and voluntary return of the Rohingya and unhindered humanitarian access to the region.

Hau Do Suan, Myanmar's ambassador and permanent representative to the U.N., said the government has been working on alleviating Rakhine's current humanitarian problems, restoring peace and stability, preparing for the repatriation of displaced persons, and implementing the recommendations of an advisory commission on Rakhine state.

"We have made necessary preparations, and are now ready to receive the first group of returnees," he said. "We will continue to work in close consultation and cooperation with Bangladesh for the voluntary, safe, and dignified repatriation of displaced persons in accordance with the bilateral agreement."

Rights groups and the U.N. have warned against a hasty return of the Rohingya refugees, saying that they will continue to face repression and discrimination and be denied access to basic services.

Myanmar authorities have bashed both rights groups and foreign media organizations that have issued detailed reports documenting atrocities committed by soldiers during the crackdown against the Rohingya, including killings, torture, rape, property theft, and arson.

The Myanmar government, which has banned independent news outlets from visiting northern Rakhine state, has attacked foreign media reports on the Rohingya crisis as "one-sided."

The Rakhine state government said last week that it would sue the American news agency the Associated Press for publishing a report in January, confirming the existence of at least five previously unreported mass graves containing the remains of slaughtered Rohingya in a village in Buthidaung township.

Both the national and state governments have called the report "false" and claimed that the graves held the bodies of 19 Muslim militants who had been killed and buried in the area.

Reported by Min Thein Aung for RFA's Myanmar Service. Translated by Khet Mar. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

Link to original story on RFA website