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URGENT NEWS - Myanmar Will Take Bac (r)



Subject: Re: URGENT NEWS - Myanmar Will Take Back Refugees Quickly:

Bangladeshi
To: Rangoon Post Co-Editor <Rangoonp@xxxxxxx>
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For an indepth report on the 1993 forced repatriation of the Rohingya,
including UNHCR's role in the repatriation see "The Return of the 
Rohingya Refugees to Burma: Voluntary Repatriation or Refoulement?" 

Available through 

U.S. Committee for Refugees
1717 Massachusetts Ave. NW
Suite 200
Washington,DC 20036
Phone #202-347-3507
Fax# 202-347-3418
email:uscr@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 



On Mon, 19 Jul 1999, Rangoon Post Co-Editor wrote:

> NOTE: Email, Call and Write the U.N. and Bangladesh NOT to forcibly
> repatriate the Rohingyas.  Many will be be imprisoned, forced into
> labor, raped and/ or killed upon repatriation.  The U.N. must help those
> as they did for Kosovo !!
> 
> 
> Myanmar Will Take Back Refugees Quickly: Bangladeshi FM
> 
>                Xinhua
>                19-JUL-99
> 
>                DHAKA (July 19) XINHUA - Bangladeshi Foreign Minister
>                Abdus Samad Azad said here on Monday he was optimistic
>                that Myanmar would very soon take back its citizens,
> known
>                here as Rohingya refugees, to remove the irritant between
>                the two neighbors. 
> 
>                "The Myanmar foreign minister has assured me to take back
>                all their nationals very quickly," Azad told reporters
> after
>                seeing his Myanmar counterpart, U Win Aung, off at the
> Zia
>                international airport. 
> 
>                Before his departure for home, Aung said the Rohingya
>                repatriation would be over soon, but he gave no
> time-frame. 
> 
>                Azad said he told Aung clearly that they had to take back
>                their nationals within this year, and Aung assured him of
>                doing the needful. 
> 
>                Since there was goodwill between the two sides, problems
>                between the two countries could be solved easily, said
> the
>                minister, adding that the Myanmar minister, through his
> visit,

>                had learnt the views of the Bangladeshi side on different
>                issues that affect bilateral relations. 
> 
>                Replying to a question, Azad said it was not only the
> 7,000
>                refugees who had already been cleared by Myanmar and the
>                UNHCR, but the entire lot numbering over 20,000 that
>                should be repatriated. "We have also communicated to them
>                that improvement of relations depends to a large extent
> on
>                how swiftly the refugee problems is solved," the foreign
>                minister said. 
> 
>                Azad said he was assured that the pace of repatriation
> would
>                be quickened and they agreed in principle to take back
> all
> 
>                their nationals. 
> 
>                Besides the refugee issue, he also discussed with Aung
>                such issues as landmining and border trade, he said.
>                Bangladesh had not decided on Myanmar's proposal of
>                forming a joint commission between the two countries, he
>                added. 
> 
>                About 250,000 Rohingyas crossed the Bangladesh border in
>                1991, and about 230,000 of them have been repatriated
>                under a memorandum of understanding between
>                Bangladesh and Myanmar. 
> 
>                The repatriation of the refugees to Myanmar stopped in
> July
>                1997 reportedly as a result of the refugees' refusal to
> return. 
> 
>                The official BSS news agency said that since the
> repatriation
>                was resumed in November last year and up to June this
>                year, only 378 Rohingyas had been repatriated, and during
>                this period, 621 babies were born in the camps and 78
> died,
>                leaving an additional 543 to be included in the total
> number
>                of refugees awaiting repatriation.
> 

Curtis W. Lambrecht
P.O. Box 206091
New Haven, CT 06520