COX'S BAZAR, Bangladesh (AP): Tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar living in dozens of camps in Bangladesh marked the eighth anniversary of their mass exodus, demanding a safe return to their previous home in Rakhine state.
The refugees gathered Monday in an open field at a camp in Kutupalong, in the Cox’s Bazar district in southeastern Bangladesh, the site of a large refugee camp. They carried banners reading "No more refugee life” and "Repatriation the ultimate solution.” They were marking what they called "Rohingya Genocide Remembrance Day.”
"We want to go back to our country with equal rights like other ethnic groups in Myanmar," one of the protesters, 19-year-old Nur Aziz, told The Associated Press. "The rights they are enjoying in Myanmar as citizens of the country, we too want to enjoy the same rights.”
Meanwhile, Bangladesh's interim leader, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus, urged the international community to facilitate a process for their safe return as he addressed a three-day conference on the Rohingya that began a day earlier in Cox’s Bazar.
International dignitaries, United Nations representatives, diplomats and Bangladesh’s interim government discussed supporting refugees with food and other amenities and how to speed up the repatriation process.
Yunus said that that the "relationship of Rohingyas with their homeland cannot be severed.”
"Their right to return to their homeland has to be secured,” he said. "Therefore, we urge all parties and partners to work hard for charting a practical roadmap for their speedy, safe, dignified, voluntary and sustainable return to their homes in Rakhine as soon as possible.”
Myanmar launched a brutal crackdown in August 2017 following insurgent attacks on guard posts in Rakhine state. The scale, organization and ferocity of the operation led to accusations of ethnic cleansing and genocide from the international community, including the United Nations.
Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims began leaving Myanmar then. They traveled by foot and boats during shelling, indiscriminate killings and other violence in Rakhine state, which was captured by the Arakan Army insurgent group that has battled against Myanmar government forces.
The Bangladesh government, which was led at the time by former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, ordered the border to be opened, eventually allowing more than 700,000 refugees to take shelter in the Muslim-majority nation. The influx was in addition to more than 300,000 refugees who already had lived in Bangladesh for decades in the wake of previous violence perpetrated by Myanmar’s military.
Since 2017, Bangladesh has attempted at least twice to send the refugees back and has urged the international community to build pressure on Myanmar’s government to establish a peaceful environment that could assist their repatriation.
The governments under Hasina and Yunus also have sought repatriation support from China.
But the situation inside Myanmar has remained volatile, especially in Rakhine state. In Bangladesh, Rohingya refugees face challenges including aid cuts by donors.
Yunus urged the regional and international stakeholders to continue to support the Rohingya people, including with financial support.
"We urge upon all to calibrate their relations with Myanmar and the Arakan Army and all parties to the conflict in order to promote an early resolution of this protracted crisis,” he said.
-- Julhas Alam contributed from Dhaka, Bangladesh.
