YANGON - Myanmar has made "minimal” preparations for the return of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslim refugees sheltering in neighbouing Bangladesh, according to an Australian think-tank, despite the country saying it is ready to start repatriation.
More than 700,000 Rohingya were forced to flee northern Rakhine state in western Myanmar during a 2017 military-led crackdown the United Nations has said included mass killings and gang-rapes executed with "genocidal intent”. Almost 400 Rohingya villages were burned to the ground during the violence.
While authorities have promised to resettle the refugees, analysis of satellite imagery shows "no sign of reconstruction” in the overwhelming majority of their former settlements while, in some areas, destruction of residential buildings has continued, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) said in a report released late on Tuesday.
"The continued destruction of residential areas across 2018 and 2019 - clearly identifiable through our longitudinal satellite analysis - raises serious questions about the willingness of the Myanmar government to facilitate a safe and dignified repatriation process,” Nathan Ruser, one of the researchers at ASPI’s International Cyber Policy Center, said in a statement.
Spokesmen for the Myanmar government did not answer calls seeking comment. Kyaw Swar Tun, deputy director of the Rakhine General Administration Department, declined to comment.
Myanmar has repeatedly said it is ready to take back refugees, blaming Bangladesh for failed efforts to kick-start returns.
A report by the disaster management unit of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) - a 10 nation regional body that includes Myanmar - had praised the country's efforts to ensure "smooth and orderly” returns. The AHA Center report, leaked to media in June, predicted that half a million refugees would come back within two years.
Human rights groups said the assessment glossed over atrocities and ignored ongoing conflict in the region. The U.N. has said conditions in Rakhine are not yet conducive for returns.
Government troops in the northern part of the state are now battling insurgents belonging to the Arakan Army, an ethnic armed group seeking greater autonomy for the region that recruits from the mostly Buddhist majority.
ASPI’s report described a pattern of "securitization” in the region since 2017, with six facilities suspected to be military bases built on top of former Rohingya settlements. -Reuters
