Myanmar is apparently drifting away from its commitment on the implementation of the final report of the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State, which has insisted on scrapping restrictions on citizenship for its ethnic minority Rohingyas.
The Myanmar authorities have hinted that they might go slow on the implementation of the proposals to take back Rohingyas who have entered Bangladesh fleeing violence in Rakhine State.
Myanmar home ministry officials declined to sign a 10-point joint minutes as the implementation of the final report, widely known as Kofi Annan commission report, was mentioned in the minutes prepared mentioning agreed points in the home minister-level official talks during Bangladesh home minister’s visit to the country, according to a Bangladesh delegation member. No joint minutes was finally signed.
Myanmar authorities also unilaterally issued a press release about the talks dropping the points on Kofi Annan commission report inserted by the Bangladesh side in the draft. Bangladesh side declined to issue a joint press release.
The Myanmar side, however, placed a proposal for Bangladesh’s consideration to sign a memorandum of understanding on jointly containing extremism and terrorism.
The host side agreed during the official talks on October 24 on expedited implementation of the Kofi Annan commission report, but refrained from including it in the joint agreed-minutes.
The host side said that Myanmar commander-in-chief senior general Min Aung Hlaing was opposed to the inclusion the Kofi Annan commission report implementation in the bilateral and multilateral documents, a Bangladesh home ministry official said.
The Myanmar side ‘plays dubious role as they don’t want to keep things documented which is very important in bilateral negotiations,’ he said.
Bangladesh home minister Asaduzzaman Khan was in Nay Pay Taw on a three day official visit for talks with his Myanmar counterpart lieutenant general Kyaw Swe on October 24.
A day after his return from Naypyidaw, the home minister on Thursday said that they had pressed for a bilateral solution to the Rohingya crisis during his talks with Myanmar state counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi.
‘We’ve told them that Rohingya crisis should be resolved bilaterally and that’s what we want,’ Asaduzzaman told reporters at the ministry.
He hinted that Bangladesh would think of something else if Myanmar did not respond to Bangladesh’s call for a bilateral solution to the crisis.
The home minister said that he told Myanmar authorities that the displaced Myanmar nationals might join extremism if they were not repatriated soon and rehabilitated in their homeland.
The Bangladesh side, however, was satisfied so far about the visit as the Myanmar authorities agreed to operationalise by November 30 the joint working group on the return of Myanmar nationals from Bangladesh, two members of the Bangladesh delegation said.
This was for the first time Bangladesh formally conveyed desire to the topmost civil political leadership of Myanmar, Aung Sun Suu Kyi, and the home minister, one of the top-most army officers in Myanmar.
The Myanmar side also agreed to immediately halt outflow of its nationals with creating normalcy in Rakhine State to enable return of their nationals fled to Bangladesh.
‘It is the beginning of a long process in the right direction on returning forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals,’ a senior Bangladesh official said.
The Myanmar side should end arrangements in its side for receiving its nationals before the joint working group becomes operational by November 30, he said.
Another Bangladesh official, however, said in a cautious statement, ‘We have heard such commitments from Myanmar side on many occasions which were hardly implemented.’
Asked about his impression on Suu Kyi’s dealing with the Rohingya issues, a Bangladesh official said that there was apparent problem in her understanding on Rakhine issues. She talked very cautiously based on information and briefing she was provided with by the Myanmar military.
Myanmar foreign ministry permanent secretary Kyaw Zeha reportedly said after the home minister-level meeting on Tuesday, ‘Bangladesh wants to repatriate as soon as possible. But we will go step by step and form a joint working group for repatriation,’ according to The Irrawaddy.
Myanmar home ministry permanent secretary Tint Myint said that the Myanmar government was yet to ‘rebuild infrastructure and draw up resettlement plans to accept them back.’
‘These works are being handled by state leaders themselves, and so it is difficult to predict [when they will be complete],’ he said.
Over 6,04,000 minority Rohingyas, mostly women, children and aged people, entered Bangladesh fleeing unbridled murder, arson and rape during ‘security operations’ by Myanmar military in Rakhine, what the United Nations denounced as ethnic cleansing, between August 25 and October 24.
Then new ongoing influx took the total number of undocumented Myanmar nationals and registered refugees in Bangladesh to over 10,23,000 till Tuesday, according to estimates of UN agencies.
Myanmar union minister for the State Counsellor’s Office Kyaw Tint Swe proposed, during his meeting with Bangladesh foreign minister AH Mahmood Ali in October 2, to partially take back Rohingyas fled to Bangladesh after October 2016, subject to verification of nationality based on provisions of a 1993 agreement between the two countries.
The Advisory Commission on Rakhine State, led by former UN chief Kofi Annan, in its final report released on August 24 in Yangon, said that Myanmar must scrap restrictions on movement and citizenship for its Rohingya minority if it wanted to avoid fuelling extremism and bring peace to Rakhine state, according to Agence France-Presse.
Aung San Suu Kyi expressed her commitment to abide by recommendations made by the commission.
New Age
