Riyadh has urged Bangladesh to take back some 54,000 Rohingya that are currently in Saudi Arabia. But agreeing to this would complicate Bangladesh’s Rohingya repatriation talks with Myanmar.
In a recent interview with DW, Bangladeshi Foreign Minister A K Abdul Momen said that authorities in Dhaka could provide legal documents to some of the Rohingya that live in Saudi Arabia.
The Muslim Rohingya are an ethnic minority originating in Myanmar’s Rakhine state. However, Myanmar refuses to recognize them as citizens. For decades, the Rohingya have fled from persecution to other countries, most of them to neighboring Bangladesh.
Almost 40 years ago, Saudi Arabia took in tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees who were facing persecution in Myanmar. The Saudi government told Dhaka in September 2020 that it “would be helpful” if the refugees were given Bangladeshi passports as the kingdom “doesn’t keep stateless people.”
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The Rohingya in Saudi Arabia do not hold a passport from any country. Even the children of the refugees who were born in Saudi Arabia and speak Arabic are not offered Saudi citizenship.
Bangladesh does not recognize the Rohingya as its citizens, therefore experts say that Foreign Minister Momen’s statement that Dhaka was considering giving passports to some Rohingya in Saudi Arabia could put the South Asian country on a backfoot in its repatriation talks with Myanmar.
“We have discussed it with Saudi authorities and assured them that we will renew passports of Rohingya that have traveled to Saudi Arabia from Bangladesh,” Momen told DW.
The foreign minister said that many Rohingya bribed Bangladeshi officials to get the country’s passports.
“In 2001, 2002 and 2006, many Rohingya traveled to Saudi Arabia with Bangladeshi passports. Some corrupt Bangladeshi officials issued them these documents,” Momen said.
The foreign minister, however, said that Dhaka will not be responsible for the children of these people.
“These Rohingya have not been in Bangladesh since the 1970s. Their children were born and brought up in other countries. They don’t know anything about Bangladesh. They were raised as Arabs,” Momen told DW, adding that the Saudi government does not want to deport all Rohingya.
The fire erupted shortly after midnight on Thursday (local time) in the Nayapara refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, gutting about 550 shelters and 150 shops. A community centre is also said to have been destroyed. UN agencies have stepped up efforts to help thousands of Rohingya refugees left without shelter after a devastating fire tore through a crowded refugee camp in south-eastern Bangladesh on Thursday.
About 3,500 Rohingya refugees, including children, lost their homes and belongings in the blaze, in the middle of winter and the coronavirus pandemic, UN agencies said.
No lives were lost, and the fire was brought under control in a few hours by firefighters, volunteers and refugees.
The Nayapara camp hosts about 22,500 refugees, of whom about 17,800 are women, children and the elderly.
UN agencies have been on the ground since early Thursday morning, assessing the damage and helping the affected.
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“We are working with our Government and NGO partners, other UN agencies, and Rohingya refugees to help people who have lost their homes and possessions during last night’s terrible fire in the refugee camp at Nayapara,” said Marin Din Kajdomcaj, an official with the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) in Cox’s Bazar.
The UN World Food Programme (WFP) is providing emergency food assistance, including hot meals to families in need.
Alongside, humanitarian partners from the Inter Sector Coordination Group (ISCG), Bangladesh Red Crescent and NGOs are also assisting the affected people.
The complex Rohingya refugee crisis erupted in August 2017, following attacks on remote police outposts in western Myanmar by armed groups alleged to belong to the community. These were followed by systematic counter attacks against the minority, mainly Muslim, Rohingya, which human rights groups, including senior UN officials, have said amounted to ethnic cleansing.
In the weeks that followed, over 700,000 Rohingya – the majority of them children, women and the elderly – fled their homes for safety in Bangladesh, with little more than the clothes on their backs, joining over 200,000 others sheltering there as a result of earlier displacements from Myanmar.
China is organising the meeting a year after a similar discussion Myanmar -Bangladesh . Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen said on Wednesday.
“We hope it will yield good results. We are still hopeful,” said Momen. Secretary-level officials will represent Bangladesh while Myanmar will send deputy minister-level officials.
The foreign minister said the last such meeting in January last year saw “some progress”, but Myanmar has remained silent since then.
“They had said they would make booklets in Rohingya and Myanmar’s own languages.
They had showed some interest, but no meeting took place. (They) gave COVID-19 and elections as excuses,” he said.
The meeting was supposed to be held on Jan 9 or 10, but was delayed because the Chinese foreign minister is visiting Myanmar now.
Bangladesh on Monday handed a list of 230,000 more Rohingya refugees to Myanmar for repatriation to their homeland in Rakhine State.
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In six phases, including the latest one, Bangladesh has handed lists of 830,000 Rohingya to Myanmar, which has verified only 42,000 refugees, but the repatriation has not begun.
More than 700,000 Rohingya crossed the border into Bangladesh after a 2017 crackdown by the Myanmar military, taking the number of refugees in Bangladesh past 1 million.
A huge fire swept through Rohingya refugee camps in southern Bangladesh early Thursday, the United Nations said, destroying homes belonging to thousands of people.
The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said more than 550 shelters — home to about 3,500 people — were either totally or partially destroyed in the blaze, as well as 150 shops and a facility belonging to a non-profit organization.
Mohammed Shamsud Douza, the deputy Bangladesh government official in charge of refugees, said the fire service spent two hours putting out the blaze, but was hampered by the explosion of gas cylinders inside homes.
A fire has swept through the Rohingya refugee camps in southern Bangladesh, destroying homes belonging to thousands of people, according to the United Nations.
The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said more than 550 shelters – home to at least 3,500 people – were either totally or partially destroyed in the blaze on Thursday, as well as 150 shops and a facility belonging to a non-profit organisation.
Photographs and video provided to Reuters news agency by a Rohingya refugee in Nayapara Camp showed families, including children, sifting through charred corrugated iron sheets to see if they could salvage anything from their smouldering homes.
But little remained of the camp, which had stood for decades, aside from concrete poles and the husks of a few trees.
“E-block is completely burned down,” said the refugee, Mohammed Arakani. “There is nothing left. There was nothing saved. Everything is burned down.”
ALSO READ THIS: FIRE GUTS OVER 500 SHANTIES IN TEKNAF ROHINGYA CAMP
“Everyone is crying,” he added. “They lost all their belongings. They lost everything … all their goods.”
“Security experts are liaising with the authorities to investigate on the cause of fire,” the agency said, adding that no casualties were reported.
Mohammed Shamsud Douza, the deputy Bangladesh government official in charge of refugees, said the fire service spent two hours putting out the blaze but was hampered by the explosion of gas cylinders inside homes.
He said there had been no decision on whether shelters would be rebuilt or refugees moved elsewhere.
The Bangladesh government has moved several thousand Rohingya to a remote island in recent weeks, despite protests from human rights groups who say some of the relocations were forced, allegations denied by authorities.
More than a million Rohingya live in the mainland camps in southern Bangladesh, the vast majority having fled Myanmar in 2017 in a military-led crackdown the UN said was executed with genocidal intent – charges Myanmar denies.
The cause of the fire is yet to be determined, the official said adding that, authorities concerned are working to this end.
At least 500 makeshift dwellings have been gutted in a fire at the Nayapara Rohingya refugee camp in Teknaf, Cox’s Bazar. However, no casualties were reported in the incident.
The fire broke out at the Nayapara refugee camp in Hnila union of Teknaf upazila in the early hours of Thursday, said Additional Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner Md Shamsud Douza.
Shamsud Douza said a fire broke out in the Nayapara Rohingya refugee camp in Teknaf at 3am on Thursday. Informed, firefighters from Teknaf Fire Service Station responded to the scene.
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“After about two hours, the fire brigade was able to bring the fire under control at 5am. Meanwhile, at least 500 Rohingya houses in the camp were completely burnt down.”
Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen says he is hoping for a fruitful meeting Bangladesh, Myanmar and China will hold a tripartite meeting on Rohingya repatriation in Dhaka on January 19, as Dhaka finds their repatriation to Myanmar as the only solution to the crisis.
“We hope it would be a fruitful meeting,” Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen told reporters on Wednesday about the tripartite talks.
He said the meeting would be held at secretary level. The last tripartite meeting like this was held on January 20 last year. More than three years ago, Myanmar’s soldiers targeted, killed, and raped Rohingyas, an ethnic minority in Myanmar, and burned their villages, as the United Nations, Refugees International, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
The cause of the fire is yet to be determined, the official said adding that, the authorities concerned are working to this end.
“Also, the extent of damage caused by the fire is also being assesed,” said Shamsud Douza.
Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen says he is hoping for a fruitful meeting Bangladesh, Myanmar and China will hold a tripartite meeting on Rohingya repatriation in Dhaka on January 19, as Dhaka finds their repatriation to Myanmar as the only solution to the crisis.
“We hope it would be a fruitful meeting,” Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen told reporters on Wednesday about the tripartite talks.
He said the meeting would be held at secretary level. The last tripartite meeting like this was held on January 20 last year.
The foreign minister said Bangladesh had handed over a list of 840,000 Rohingyas to Myanmar for verification.
“Myanmar has verified very few people. They are very slow. They verified only 42,000 people. There is (a) serious lack of seriousness,” said the foreign minister.
Dr Momen said they were doing their part of the job, but Myanmar is not responding the same way.
ALSO READ THIS: BANGLADESH PROVIDES LIST OF 230,000 ROHINGYA TO MYANMAR FOR REPATRIATION
Responding to a question, he said he is always hopeful of beginning repatriation as Myanmar has taken back their nationals before – in 1978 and 1992.
The government earlier hinted that the repatriation talks would begin this month as there was no Rohingya repatriation and discussion in 2020, because of the Covid-19 pandemic as well as the general elections in Myanmar.
Big countries find the repatriation of Rohingyas to their place of origin in Myanmar’s Rakhine State as the only solution to the crisis.
More than three years ago, Myanmar’s soldiers targeted, killed, and raped Rohingyas, an ethnic minority in Myanmar, and burned their villages, as the United Nations, Refugees International, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the US Department of State, and many others have documented.
Over 800,000 Rohingyas fled the genocidal violence and took shelter in Bangladesh, which is now hosting over 1.1 million Rohingyas.
“Though Myanmar agreed to take back their nationals after verification, no Rohingyas returned home. There is a lack of sincerity from Myanmar’s side,” Foreign Minister Dr Momen told UNB recently.
The government has handed over a list of 230,000 more Rohingya refugees to Myanmar for repatriation to their homeland in Rakhine State.
Delwar Hossain, the director general of the foreign ministry’s Myanmar wing, said on Tuesday that he gave the list to the Myanmar ambassador in Dhaka on Monday, reports bdnews24.com.
In six phases, including the latest one, Bangladesh has handed lists of 830,000 Rohingya to Myanmar, which has verified only 42,000 refugees, but the repatriation has not begun.
More than 700,000 Rohingya crossed the border into Bangladesh after a 2017 crackdown by the Myanmar military, taking the number of refugees in Bangladesh past 1 million.
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The process of granting clearance is very slow, which raises questions about the Myanmar government’s political commitment to the resolution of the Rohingya crisis,’ Bangladesh Enterprise Institute president Humayun Kabir told New Age on Monday.
“Bangladesh has taken all steps required for repatriating the Rohingyas. Talks are underway. “The entire region, especially the two countries, will witness unrest if the Rohingyas are not taken back. And it will bring no good to any country,” said Momen“Talks over repatriating Rohingyas are continuing with all countries including China, India and Thailand. All of them agree that Myanmar created the crisis. The resolution to it depends on them. The solution lies in taking back the Rohingyas. However, the Rohingyas do not trust Myanmar,” he furthered.
At the event, two books by former ambassador to Myanmar Maj (retd) Md Emdadul Islam published by Prothoma Prakashan and Kharimati were unveiled.
Publishing House Kharimati organized the program.
The government later signed an agreement with Myanmar for the repatriation of its displaced nationals, but the process to send them back was halted twice as the Muslim refugees refused to return without citizenship rights in the Buddhist-majority country.
Bangladesh has alleged a lack of sincerity of Myanmar in ensuring safe, dignified and sustainable return of the refugees as violence in Rakhine has continued.
The only solution to the crisis is taking back the forcibly displaced people, says the foreign ministerReiterating Myanmar was not sincere about taking back the Rohingyas, Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen says that talks over the matter have resumed after it was stalled due to the pandemic and national elections in the neighbouring country.
The foreign minister made the remarks while speaking at a book launching ceremony held at the Chittagong Press Club.
At the event, two books by former ambassador to Myanmar Maj (retd) Md Emdadul Islam published by Prothoma Prakashan and Kharimati were unveiled.
Publishing House Kharimati organized the program.
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The process of granting clearance is very slow, which raises questions about the Myanmar government’s political commitment to the resolution of the Rohingya crisis,’ Bangladesh Enterprise Institute president Humayun Kabir told New Age on Monday.
“Bangladesh has taken all steps required for repatriating the Rohingyas. Talks are underway. “The entire region, especially the two countries, will witness unrest if the Rohingyas are not taken back. And it will bring no good to any country,” said Momen“Talks over repatriating Rohingyas are continuing with all countries including China, India and Thailand. All of them agree that Myanmar created the crisis. The resolution to it depends on them. The solution lies in taking back the Rohingyas. However, the Rohingyas do not trust Myanmar,” he furthered.
“Despite repeated assurances, Myanmar has not taken back any Rohingya. This is regrettable.
“Myanmar lacks sincerity over repatriation. The initiative to take back the Rohingyas got stalled due to the outbreak of Covid-19 and polls in Myanmar. Now the talks have resumed,”added the minister.
The Myanmar authorities have assessed eligibility of 42,040 Rohingya people in about three years for the purpose of their return to the country from Bangladesh.
But the military-controlled country has cleared only 27,640 Rohingyas in the period for taking them back, rejecting about 14,400 members of the community on insubstantial grounds, Bangladesh officials said.
The Bangladesh government has continued sending lists, with data on 2,30,717 displaced people handed over to the Myanmar authorities on Monday for verification, a government official said.
Bangladesh has so far sought clearance for the repatriation of 8,29,036 Rohingyas to Myanmar, the official added.
‘The process of granting clearance is very slow, which raises questions about the Myanmar government’s political commitment to the resolution of the Rohingya crisis,’ Bangladesh Enterprise Institute president Humayun Kabir told New Age on Monday.
Describing the matter as a ‘complex strategic dilemma,’ he said that it was a real challenge for the Bangladesh government to make a breakthrough with multidimensional diplomatic efforts involving China, Japan and the US, as well as by maintaining a bilateral mechanism with Myanmar.
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Asked about the rejection of about 33 per cent of the people the Myanmar authorities have assessed, a government official said that the Myanmar government was possibly comparing the lists presented to them with decade-old lists of Rohingya inhabitants of Rakhine.
Many Rohingyas are not in the lists of the Myanmar government as it stopped registration of Rohingya residents about eight years ago, said the official.
Myanmar also rejected names on flimsy grounds, including ‘mismatches’ that actually resulted from differences in spellings between the English lists presented by Bangladesh and the Burmese lists maintained by the Myanmar government, officials said.
Besides, Myanmar also follows a ‘fictitious list of criminals’, they added.
Some 8,60,000 Rohingyas, mostly women, children and aged people, have entered Bangladesh fleeing unbridled murder, arson and rape during ‘security operations’ by the Myanmar military in Rakhine, what the United Nations has denounced as ethnic cleansing and genocide, beginning since August 25, 2017, according to UN agencies.
Bangladesh handed over the first list of displaced Rohingyas to Myanmar in January 2018 with expectations to start repatriation.
