Villages in Rakhine not same anymore, turned into camps, Rohingyas say
A delegation of 20 Rohingyas and 7 Bangladesh officials visit Rakhine on Friday to see if environment and conditions are favourable for repatriation
Rohingya representatives did not find the villages they fled some six years ago amid military crackdowns as they visited Maungdaw in Myanmar's Rakhine state on Friday.
The Maungdaw villages have been transformed into camps, they said.
"We have visited some areas near Maungdaw city but have not found our villages. Everything has changed. The areas are now full of camps," said Abu Sufian, who was among the 20 Rohingya leaders in Friday's delegation to Myanmar.
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The delegation which also included seven Bangladesh officials reached Maungdaw at 11am and returned at 5pm on the same day. The visit was arranged to see if the environment and conditions in Rakhine state are favourable for repatriation.
"The Myanmar government is planning to keep returnee Rohingyas in these camps," Sufian told The Business Standard.
"We have talked to the Myanmar authorities. They said they will allow us to stay in these camps on the basis of national verification cards. We will not be offered citizenship although they were supposed to do that," said Mohammad Selim, another Rohingya leader from the delegation.
He believes that his community will not agree to return on such conditions.
Meanwhile, Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner (RRRC) Mohammad Mizanur Rahman, who represented Bangladesh in the delegation, observed an improved situation in nearby areas of Maungdaw.
"During our visit, we found 80% of people who can move and work independently were Rohingyas. The situation is now in favour of repatriation," the official told TBS.
"Rohingyas, however, said the villages they used to live in no longer exist. They want their homes exactly as they were," he said, adding that a Myanmar delegation is scheduled to come to Bangladesh soon when repatriation issues will be discussed.
The first batch of Rohingyas was supposed to be repatriated by 15 November 2018, but it did not happen. Then in August 2019, another attempt was made by China to send the Rohingyas back but they were reluctant as the issue of their citizenship was still unresolved.
According to the RRRC office, Bangladesh has so far listed 882,000 Rohingya since the first influx on 25 August 2017. It sent the list to Myanmar for consideration. In reply, the Myanmar authorities recognised only 68,000 Rohingyas.
In March this year, a delegation from the Myanmar Immigration Department reached Teknaf to discuss the Rohingya repatriation. It, however, left Bangladesh without reaching any settlement on the agenda. Later in mid-April, Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen held a tripartite meeting with representatives from China and Myanmar to expedite the repatriation process.
Myanmar's arrangement for Rohingyas
The Myanmar government has made two model villages for Rohingyas who will be returned from Bangladesh, according to RRRC Mizanur Rahman.
"One village has 215 homes, whereas the other village has 99 residences. Four to five individuals can reside in one home. However, the homes do not have an attached kitchen or a bathroom. Dwellers will have to use public restrooms outside homes," he told TBS, and added that these homes are even too small to accommodate large families.
"We asked the authorities where the Rohingya would get food because no arrangement for food was seen there, and they replied that Rohingyas would have to make these arrangements on their own. The Myanmar government will supply furnaces and firewood for a month," he said and noted that children of the Rohingya community will be permitted to enrol in a few local schools and receive medical care at adjacent clinics.
"The Rohingyas who will be returning home will first be placed at these homes. They will then be able to move and purchase residences later. We should appreciate the arrangement," the official said.
