A 20-member delegation from the forcibly displaced Rohingyas staying in Bangladesh camps along with government officials is inspecting the Rakhine state on Friday at the invitation of Myanmar to see for themselves whether the prevailing situation there is congenial for their repatriation.
‘We started our journey at about 9:15am by boat. We will return by evening,' said refugee relief and repatriation commissioner in Cox’s Bazar Mohammed Mizanur Rahman.
The Rohingyas will see makeshift camps prepared by the Junta government of their homeland, days before launching a pilot repatriation programme.
Mizanur said that it was important to know the reaction of Rohingya people who were visiting the place.
The Rohingya delegation, accompanied by a group of officials from ministries and agencies concerned, includes representatives from youths, females, religious leaders and community leaders.
This is the first such a move to start a process for the much-awaited repatriation as a single Rohingya could not be sent back to their homeland since a large-scale exodus from there in 2017 despite a deal signed between the two countries in 2018, said foreign ministry officials.
Myanmar authorities have already verified a list of above 1,100 for their repatriation in phases against over 11 lakh persecuted Rohingys sheltered in Bangladesh camps as the move to send them back have remained stalled, according to officials.
At least two attempts to start the repatriation have failed as they refused to return home without a guarantee of their citizenship and security.
During his visit to Bangladesh in August 2022, Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi assured his Bangladesh counterpart AK Abdul Momen that China would facilitate the repatriation of the Rohingyas to Rakhine state, where they had already constructed 300 houses and offered to provide food for them for three to four months when they returned.
