PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia: The Singapore and Thai foreign
ministers will travel to Myanmar "soon" to thrash out a deal for the
safe repatriation to Myanmar of the more than 700,000 Rohingya refugees in
Bangladesh, Malaysian Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah said Tuesday.
The Asean-approved mission to Myanmar is likely to set
the tone for the Asean leaders' meeting in mid-November, where the Rohingya
issue is expected to top the agenda.
Saifuddin said it is hoped this initiative, under Asean
auspices, will lead to Rohingya returning to their homes in the western Myanmar
state of Rakhine beginning by early next year.
Mr Saifuddin, host for a meeting of Asean foreign
ministers, did not announce a date for the mission to Nay Pyi Taw.
Asean must act because of fear or an influx of refugees
into Thailand and Malaysia if the refugee crisis in Bangladesh is not resolved.
There are already more than 75,000 Rohingya refugees in
Malaysia, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, with thousands
more who are not registered with the United Nations body.
Foreign ministers from Asean member states first broached
the subject of an Asean-mediated repatriation programme with their Myanmar
counterpart on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York last month,
Saifuddin said.
The task of negotiating a repatriation programme with
Myanmar fell to Singapore and Thailand because of their status as the chair of
Asean - Singapore at present and Thailand as of January.
"We are hopeful that (at) the beginning of next
year, when the rainy season ends, the process can start," Saifuddin said.
The violence that erupted in August 2017 in Rakhine state
between the army and the Rohingya, a Muslim minority in the overwhelmingly
Buddhist nation; cause more than 720,000 Rohingya to flee to neighbouring
Bangladesh. They now live in sprawling makeshift camps in the impoverished
Cox's Bazar district.
A UN report in August accused the Myanmar military of
carrying out mass killing, gang rapes and other atrocities with "genocidal
intent".
It also said that the current commander-in-chief of the
Myanmar military, Snr Gen Min Aung Hlaing, and five other top officers’
commanders should be investigated and prosecuted.
The International Criminal Court said it has opened a
probe into the army's conduct.
Source: Bangkok Post