Reuters :
Myanmar has said it will take back 2,415 citizens from Bangladesh, only a tiny fraction of the 300,000 people who Bangladesh says are Myanmar citizens taking refuge there and should go home.
Tension has been rising between the neighbours over Myanmar’s treatment of ethnic minority Rohingya Muslims, about
50,000 of whom Bangladesh says have fled there since the Myanmar army launched a crackdown on its side of their border in October. Myanmar has for decades said Rohingyas are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and it has declined to grant them citizenship. Bangladesh says the Rohingyas are Myanmar citizens and it has refused to grant refugee status to those who have fled there, many from communal violence and Myanmar army crackdowns over the past decades. “There are only 2,415 Myanmar citizens, according to our data,” Kyaw Zaya, director general of Myanmar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told Reuters on Friday, referring to the number of Myanmar citizens in Bangladesh. “We always stand with our number,” he said, adding he had “no idea” about the Bangladesh figure of 300,000. He said the Myanmar government had a plan to take back the 2,415 in 2017. Bangladesh had earlier summoned the Myanmar ambassador in Dhaka to demand the “early repatriation of all Myanmar citizens from Bangladesh,” its foreign affairs ministry said in a statement, giving the figure of 300,000. Security has deteriorated sharply in Myanmar’s northwestern Rakhine State, home to many Rohingyas, since attacks on security posts near the border with Bangladesh on Oct 9 in which nine police officers were killed.
The government of predominantly Buddhist Myanmar has blamed militants with links to Islamists overseas for the attacks and poured troops into the region. Rights groups and residents say widespread abuses have occurred during the Myanmar military operation over the weeks since then.
Myanmar has said it will take back 2,415 citizens from Bangladesh, only a tiny fraction of the 300,000 people who Bangladesh says are Myanmar citizens taking refuge there and should go home.
Tension has been rising between the neighbours over Myanmar’s treatment of ethnic minority Rohingya Muslims, about
50,000 of whom Bangladesh says have fled there since the Myanmar army launched a crackdown on its side of their border in October. Myanmar has for decades said Rohingyas are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and it has declined to grant them citizenship. Bangladesh says the Rohingyas are Myanmar citizens and it has refused to grant refugee status to those who have fled there, many from communal violence and Myanmar army crackdowns over the past decades. “There are only 2,415 Myanmar citizens, according to our data,” Kyaw Zaya, director general of Myanmar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told Reuters on Friday, referring to the number of Myanmar citizens in Bangladesh. “We always stand with our number,” he said, adding he had “no idea” about the Bangladesh figure of 300,000. He said the Myanmar government had a plan to take back the 2,415 in 2017. Bangladesh had earlier summoned the Myanmar ambassador in Dhaka to demand the “early repatriation of all Myanmar citizens from Bangladesh,” its foreign affairs ministry said in a statement, giving the figure of 300,000. Security has deteriorated sharply in Myanmar’s northwestern Rakhine State, home to many Rohingyas, since attacks on security posts near the border with Bangladesh on Oct 9 in which nine police officers were killed.
The government of predominantly Buddhist Myanmar has blamed militants with links to Islamists overseas for the attacks and poured troops into the region. Rights groups and residents say widespread abuses have occurred during the Myanmar military operation over the weeks since then.
