Not one Rohingya refugee crossed back into Myanmar from Bangladesh on Thursday under a disputed repatriation programme, officials said, with Yangon blaming Dhaka for bungling efforts to start returning the stateless minority.
Bangladeshi officials waited hours at a border transit point where the first returnees were expected to cross into Myanmar, despite the United Nations warning the displaced Muslims risked fresh persecution if they went back.
But not a single Rohingya from the 720,000 estimated to have fled a Myanmar military crackdown in August last year came forward, with hundreds instead staging a demonstration shouting “We will not go”.
“No one turned up voluntarily,” Bangladesh refugee commissioner Mohammad Abul Kalam told AFP, adding they were awaiting instructions from the foreign ministry as how to proceed.
With the UN and international aid groups also fighting the controversial plan, Rohingya leaders said many on a Bangladesh repatriation list of 2,260 people had gone into hiding.
Bangladesh expected 150 refugees to volunteer to return Thursday, with five buses waiting to carry them to the border.
But they remained empty, and instead about 1,000 Rohingya men, women and children protested against repatriations, shouting “We want justice”.
The United Nations had urged Bangladesh to suspend the programme, with rights chief Michelle Bachelet saying it would send the Rohingya “back to the cycle of human rights violations that this community has been suffering for decades.”
Many of the Rohingya who fled Myanmar last year have recounted horrific tales of murder, rape and razed villages. The UN has said a genocide investigation is warranted.
Many of the Rohingya who fled Myanmar last year have recounted horrific tales of murder, rape and razed villages. The UN has said a genocide investigation is warranted.
