Rohingya shun repatriation to Myanmar, want safety guarantee

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

Rohingya shun repatriation to Myanmar, want safety guarantee

By TOFAYEL AHMAD and JULHAS ALAM
August 22, 2019

COX’S BAZAR, Bangladesh (AP) — None of the thousands of Rohingya Muslims living in crowded refugee camps in Bangladesh turned up for a planned repatriation to Myanmar on Thursday, demanding they first be guaranteed safety and citizenship.

“Not a single Rohingya wants to go back without their demands being met,” Bangladesh refugee commissioner Abul Kalam told reporters.

More than 700,000 Rohingya fled across the border to Bangladesh after Myanmar’s military began a harsh counterinsurgency campaign against them two years ago, a campaign that involved mass rapes, killings and the burning of homes.

Rohingya Muslims have long demanded that Myanmar give them citizenship, safety and their own land and homes they left behind. The Buddhist-majority nation has refused to recognize Rohingya as citizens or even as one of its ethnic groups, rendering them stateless, and they also face other forms of state-sanctioned discrimination.

-snip-

Read more: https://apnews.com/821872d3fe0543c184789a7138e4ccb5

[abqtommy]

1. I've followed this situation since I first saw it in the news years ago.

The majority sect of Buddhism in Myanmar/Burma is extremely nationalistic and has also been persecuting Rohingya Hindus. There's lots of problems here in this world for people who want to commit to a loooong-term project!