Rohingya Refugees

Myanmar junta team in Bangladesh for Rohingya repatriation talks

Myanmar regime officials arrived in Bangladesh on Tuesday to meet with Rohingya refugees as part of a long-stalled repatriation scheme now backed by China, authorities said. Bangladesh is home to around one million Rohingya refugees, most of whom fled a violent 2017 crackdown by the Myanmar military that is now subject to a UN genocide probe. The stateless and persecuted minority live in overcrowded, dangerous and under-resourced camps, and several previous attempts to broker their return home have failed due to reluctance from Myanmar and the refugees themselves.  The team of junta officials arrived at Teknaf, a river port just across from their shared border with Bangladesh, to meet with several dozen Rohingya families.  “They will discuss repatriation with the Rohingya today and verify their identity,” Shamsud Douza, the country’s deputy refugee commissioner, told AFP. “The delegates will leave for Myanmar today but will return tomorrow.” Bangladesh officials said Myanmar plans to take back around 3,000 refugees by December as part of a pilot repatriation scheme brokered in a three-way meeting between the two countries and China in April. “They are ready to accept them. But the Rohingya are not ready to go. That’s the challenge,” one Bangladeshi government official…