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NEWS - Bangladesh Fails to Force Ro



Subject: NEWS - Bangladesh Fails to Force Rohingyas Year-End Return

NOTE: This so-called problem wouldn't exist if the military regime
wasn't Forcibly controlling the region.

Bangladesh Fails to Force Rohingyas Year-End Return

               Inter Press Service
               30-JUL-99

               DHAKA, (Jul. 30) IPS - Repatriation of the remaining
21,000
               Burmese refugees in Bangladesh has become uncertain
               after visiting Foreign Minister U Win Aung refused to
give his
               hosts a concrete assurance during his recent three-day
visit.

               Bangladesh Foreign Minister Abdus Samad Azad had told
               his Burmese counterpart that Bangladesh was expecting to
               have all the refugees leave the country by the end of
               December this year. 

               Instead the Burmese foreign minister left July 19
expressing
               the hope that the matter would be resolved after his
return
               home. He told reporters in Dhaka, on his departure, "I
shall
               do my best. I will talk to relevant ministries on my
return." 

               That however was just not good enough for a piqued
               government which has told the Burmese commerce minister
               who was scheduled to visit Dhaka, from August 3 to 7, to
               postpone his visit, though ministry officials have denied
the
               connection. 

               Burma is committed to taking back the refugees, but
               continues to resist any attempt to make it time-bound. 

               A quarter million Rohingya, indigenous people who are
               mainly Muslims, had trekked into Bangladesh in 1991 to
               escape persecution by the Buddhist military junta in
               Rangoon. The Rohingyas were put up in makeshift camps in
               the Cox's Bazar area bordering Burma. 

               After many rounds of talks between the two governments
               and following international pressure, Rangoon agreed to
               repatriate its citizens, much to Dhaka's relief. 

               By the middle of 1997, repatriation of 230,000 refugees
was
               completed under the supervision of the United Nations
High
               Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) when the remaining
               said they would not go back because of their uncertain

               future in Burma. 

               The minority Rohingyas who are from Burma's hilly
northern
               border province of Arakan have fled religious
persecution,
               forced labor, arbitrary and punitive taxation and the
               confiscation of their lands by the Burmese military
               government. 

               The military regime also has been accused of working on a
               program of population engineering, moving Buddhist Arakan
               families into "model villages" in areas from where the
               Muslims have been forced out. 

               Under Burma's 1982 Citizenship Law, which was
               promulgated shortly after Rohingya refugees returned from
               the 1978 exodus to Bangladesh, a person in order to
               become a citizen has to prove residency in Burma back to
               1823. 

               Few Rohingyas qualify as either full, associate or
naturalized
               citizens (the three categories created by the law) which
is
               essential in Burma to gain access to basic social,
               educational and health services. 

               Of those still in Cox's Bazar, some 6,000 have been
cleared
               by the Burmese authorities for repatriation, while 9,000
were
               rejected as they could not prove their address in Burma
and
               the remaining, Rangoon dismissed as armed cadre of the
               rebel Rohingya Solidarity Organization. 

               Bangladeshi authorities however blame the refugees for
               continuing to staying on in two remaining camps in Cox's
               Bazar, beyond the deadline of Aug. 15, 1997, set by
               Rangoon, in the mistaken hope that Bangladesh would give
               them permanent residence. 

               Rohingyas are ethnic cousins of people living in the
Cox's
               Bazar area, and they share a religion and customs, and
even
               their dialects are broadly similar. 

               Consequently, the government has had to watch its step
               domestically, particularly from religious groups, which
               lambasted the government for the deaths of half a dozen
               Rohingyas in 1997 in clashes with the law enforcing
               agencies in the two remaining refugee camps in Cox's
Bazar.

               Dhaka-based political observers say the Sheikh Hasina
               Wajed government was counting on speeding up the
               repatriation process with the visit of the Burmese
foreign
               minister. Since November 1998, Burma's has been accepting
               only 50 refugees a week - a repatriation process that
could
               take nine years to be completed. 

               Meanwhile, new refugees from Burma continue to cross over
               into Bangladesh, UNHCR admits although it is not willing
to
               guess the numbers with many landing up to stay in the
               refugee camps with friends and relatives and sharing
their

               rations. 

               UNHCR has been blamed by the Bangladesh government, in
               the past, for encouraging refugees to refuse to go back
to
               Burma. 

               A Human Rights Watch and Refugees International report on
               the Rohingya refugees, 'The Search for a Lasting
Solution',
               quoted a Bangladesh foreign ministry statement released
on
               July 25, 1997, saying, "The refugees are predominantly
               economic migrants and any generous subsidizes and
               campaigns about local settlement will work as a
disincentive
               for the refugees to return. 

               The government says the influx of refugees has created
               many socio-economic, political and environmental
problems.
               Refugees are accused of stripping the forests around
Cox's
               Bazar, defecating anywhere and everywhere, and taking
               away the jobs of locals, among a string of charges. 

               As long as they are considered non-citizens and unwelcome
               in Burma, Bangladesh's Rohingya refugee problem will
               remain.