Arakan News Agency
Myanmar officials have refuted media reports that Myanmar would resettle thousands of Rohingya living in Bangladesh, insisting that the Rohingya were not ethnic nationals of the country.
This comes just days after Bangladesh officials announced an agreement with Myanmar to resume the repatriation process, which has been stalled since 2005.
U Thant Kyaw, Myanmar’s deputy foreign affairs minister told state media that while Myanmar said it was considering the return of 2,415 Myanmar nationals, the two countries never used the term “Rohingya” during discussions.
“With regard to the term Rohingya I explained to the state minister for home affairs during our meeting that we have never had ethnic nationals called Rohingya according to the official list of indigenous ethnic groups of Myanmar as well as our historical records,” Kyaw was quoted as saying in state media on Thursday.
Myanmar officials said they agreed to form a joint committee to re-examine the cases of the 2,415 refugees. It was not certain Myanmar would accept them, country officials said.
Myanmar considers the Rohingya as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and has strongly resisted offering them citizenship, yet they are equally unwelcome in Bangladesh
.
In western Myanmar’s Rakhine state, they have frequently been subjected to systematic abuse and violence at the hands of extremist Buddhists. The United Nations Refugee Agency termed Rohingya people “the world’s most persecuted minority”.
