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Bangladesh seeks UN's guidance for Rohingya repatriation

BANGLADESH’S foreign minister, AK Abdul Momen, has sought a ‘clear roadmap’ from the United Nations (UN) on the early repatriation of Rohingyas from Bangladesh to Myanmar.

Authorities in Bangladesh set up 34 camps in the country's southeastern district of Cox's Bazar for nearly 900,000 Rohingya refugees, who fled persecution and violence in Myanmar in 2017.
Myanmar does not recognise the Rohingya as citizens but has said it will welcome back those agreeing to a bureaucratic status below full citizenship.
“We need a clear roadmap from the UN for repatriation of Rohingyas to Myanmar,” Momen said at a bilateral meeting with the special envoy of the UN secretary-general on Myanmar, Christine S Burgener, at the Bangladesh Permanent Mission in New York on Wednesday (16).

The minister said the solution to the Rohingya crisis "lies in their safe and sustainable repatriation to Myanmar".


Momen briefed the special envoy on the Bhashan char project where the Rohingyas can engage in economic activities and stressed the engagement of the UN in providing humanitarian assistance there.

While the foreign minister invited the special envoy to visit Bhashan Char when the Covid situation improves, Burgener expressed her eagerness to visit the island where the Bangladesh government has built a township to relocate 100,000 Rohingyas from congested camps in Cox’s Bazar, the Dhaka Tribune said.

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