By RTE
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| Around 600,000 Rohingya Muslims fled to Bangladesh |
Bangladesh and Myanmar have agreed to take assistance
from the UN refugee agency for the repatriation of hundreds of thousands of
Rohingya Muslims, Bangladesh’s Foreign Minister has said.
The two governments signed a pact on Thursday settling
the terms for the repatriation process, and the return of the Rohingya to
Myanmar is expected to start in two months.
Uncertainty over whether the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) would have a role had prompted rights groups
to insist that outside monitors were needed to safeguard the Rohingya's return.
More than 600,000 Rohingya sought sanctuary in Bangladesh
after Myanmar's military launched counter-insurgency in their villages across
the northern parts of Rakhine State following attacks by Rohingya militants on
an army base and police posts on 25 August.
The signing of the deal is a first step.
A joint working group of the three parties will be formed
within three weeks and the group will fix the final terms to start the
repatriation process, said the foreign minister
After repatriation, Rohingya Muslims will be kept at
makeshift camps near to their abandoned homes, he said.
"Homes have been burnt to the ground in Rakhine,
that need to be rebuilt. We have proposed Myanmar to take help from India and
China for building camps for them," the minister said.
The UN and United States have described the military's
actions as "ethnic cleansing", and rights groups have accused
Myanmar's security forces of atrocities, including mass rape, arson and
killings.
Under the deal, Myanmar will take measures to see that
the returnees will not be settled in temporary places for a longtime and Myanmar
will issue them an identity card for national verification immediately on their
return.