Yangon, MINA – Myanmar has officially identified 180,000 members of the Rohingya refugee population living in Bangladesh as “eligible” for repatriation, according to the head of Bangladesh’s interim government, Muhammad Yunus, Anadolu Agency reported.
Yunus shared the information on Friday during his trip to Thailand, where he was attending the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) summit in Bangkok.
The identification process is part of an ongoing effort to address the displacement of over 1.3 million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, who fled a brutal crackdown by Myanmar’s military in 2017.
Myanmar authorities informed Bangladesh that, out of the 800,000 Rohingyas living in the country, 180,000 have been deemed eligible for return.
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Yunus revealed that Myanmar’s Foreign Minister U Than Shew disclosed this information during a meeting with his advisor, Khalilur Rahman, in Bangkok.
Myanmar has also committed to quickly verifying the remaining 550,000 Rohingya refugees from the original list.
The situation of the Rohingya refugees is closely tied to the controversial military coup in Myanmar, led by Min Aung Hlaing, who also attended the BIMSTEC summit.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has previously sought an arrest warrant for Min Aung Hlaing in connection with the violent 2017 crackdown, which forced many Rohingya to flee in what rights groups have labeled as genocide.
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The Rohingya, originally from Myanmar’s Rakhine State, have long faced persecution, with the government denying them citizenship and many basic rights. []
Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)
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