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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