By HTET NAING ZAW 23
July 2018
“We’ve formed a
working group, which will conduct a pilot project to rehabilitate, restore
racial harmony and bring about socio-economic development in some 30 villages,”
the minister for labor, immigration and population U Thein Swe told The
Irrawaddy on Friday.
The Irrawaddy
NAYPYITAW — The
Ministry of Labor, Immigration and Population has released a plan to
rehabilitate about 30 villages in Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships in troubled
Rakhine State.
The United Nations
Development Program (UNDP) and the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) will assist the ministry in the project, said the minister.
The project aims to
spur equitable and harmonious development in Muslim, Hindu and ethnic villages.
Repatriation will be successful only when there is increased trust between
different communities, said the minister.
Some 700,000
Rohingya fled Rakhine for Bangladesh after militant attacks on security
outposts in the north of the state in late August triggered a massive military
and police crackdown in the area’s Muslim communities.
In November, Myanmar
and Bangladesh agreed to start repatriating the refugees on Jan. 22, but the
process has been delayed.
A Bangladeshi
minister is set to visit Myanmar this week. He will also visit northern Rakhine
State and discussions will be held to continue repatriation according to the
memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between the two countries.
“We will design a
detailed work plan and implement rehabilitation work according to it. We will
designate model villages and start the project there in cooperation with the
UNDP and the UNHCR,” permanent secretary U Myint Thu of the Foreign Affairs
Ministry told The Irrawaddy.
The officials of the
UNDP, UNHCR and Myanmar government visited northern Rakhine from Saturday until
Monday in order to select villages for the pilot project.
According to the MoU between the two UN
agencies and the Myanmar government leaked to Reuters last month, the
groups will implement three months and six months programs to facilitate
repatriation. https://lnkd.in/dD_4t5Z
“The parties agreed
to keep it confidential. We have no comment regarding the leak. It was not
leaked by us,” said U Myint Thu.