Rohingya repatriation talks on no man's land

Bangladesh and Myanmar officials are discussing the issue of repatriation of some 6,500 Rohingyas living in no-man's land near Tambru along the border.

The meeting began at 10am on Tuesday.

Divisional commissioner Abdul Mannan, relief and refugee repatriation commissioner Mohammad Abul Kalam are attending the meeting as part of 12-member Bangladesh team.

 The team is set to return around 3pm, RRRC Abul Kalam told UNB.

 Bangladesh has handed over a list of 1,673 Rohingya families (8,032 individuals) to Myanmar to start the first phase of repatriation of the displaced people to their homeland in Rakhine state.

 “The Myanmar side has cordially accepted the list,” said home minister Asaduzzaman Khan on Friday after over three hours of meeting with his Myanmar counterpart at the secretariat in Dhaka.

 He had said Myanmar would scrutinise the list and names and get back to Bangladesh soon.

He had said there was no specific timeframe to start the repatriation expressing the hope that it would start soon.

“[A congenial] environment needs to be created [in Rakhine] to make their return sustainable. No specific date was provided for repatriation but they showed sincerity and are taking preparations to take their nationals back,” the minister had said.