- Title: 'We are ready to go back': Rohingya refugees meet with Myanmar delegates
- Date: 18th December 2019
- Summary: COX'S BAZAR, BANGLADESH (DECEMBER 18, 2019) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF KUTUPALONG REFUGEE CAMP EXTERIOR OF BUILDING WHERE MEETING BETWEEN ROHINGYA REPRESENTATIVES AND MYANMAR DELEGATES WILL TAKE PLACE SIGN READING (English): "REFUGEE RELIEF AND REPATRIATION COMMISSION. OFFICE OF THE CAMP IN CHARGE" ROHINGYA REFUGEES WALKING THROUGH CAMP VARIOUS OF TEAM OF 47 ROHINGYA REPRESENTATIVES WALKING IN LINE TOWARDS MEETING VENUE MYANMAR DELEGATION ARRIVING HEAD OF MYANMAR DELEGATION, DIRECTOR GENERAL OF INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS AND ECONOMIC DEPARTMENT FROM THE MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS, CHAN AYE, BEING GREETED WITH FLOWERS BY BANGLADESH OFFICIALS / WALKING INTO VENUE VARIOUS OF MYANMAR DELEGATION ENTERING BUILDING FOR TALKS PEOPLE ARRIVING FOR TALKS REPRESENTATIVES SEATED FOR TALKS MEMBERS OF ROHINGYA COMMUNITY SEATED FOR TALKS PARTICIPANTS SITTING AROUND TABLE FOR TALKS ROHINGYA REFUGEES SITTING AHEAD OF TALKS AYE SITTING AT TABLE ROHINGYA LEADERS SITTING MEETING IN PROGRESS VARIOUS OF MYANMAR DELEGATES AND ROHINGYA REPRESENTATIVES SPEAKING AFTER MEETING VARIOUS OF ROHINGYA PEOPLE STANDING ON BAMBOO BRIDGE (SOUNDBITE) (Rohingya) ROHINGYA REFUGEE IN CAMP, MOHAMMED TAYEB, SAYING: "We came as a delegation from Myanmar has arrived to meet with our leader, so (they can discuss how) we can go back to Burma. If they find a suitable solution, we are ready to go back. We need our rights and we have come here to see the results." AYE LEAVING MEETING VENUE (SOUNDBITE) (English) HEAD OF MYANMAR DELEGATION, DIRECTOR GENERAL OF INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS AND ECONOMIC DEPARTMENT FROM THE MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS, CHAN AYE, SAYING: "We came to the camp to meet with the displaced persons from the Rakhaine. And we explain the procedures and our effort to repatriate, to facilitate the repatriation of the displaced persons." ROHINGYA REFUGEES WATCHING (SOUNDBITE) (English) HEAD OF MYANMAR DELEGATION, DIRECTOR GENERAL OF INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS AND ECONOMIC DEPARTMENT FROM THE MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS, CHAN AYE, SAYING: "And also we explain (to) them the issue relating to the citizenship, NVC & provision of the security arrangement." VARIOUS OF ROHINGYA PEOPLE LOOKING AT BUILDING WHERE MEETING TOOK PLACE (SOUNDBITE) (English) HEAD OF MYANMAR DELEGATION, DIRECTOR GENERAL OF INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS AND ECONOMIC DEPARTMENT FROM THE MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS, CHAN AYE, SAYING: "Based on the legal fact and the historical facts we explain them the reason, the reason we can not accept the Rohingya but we didn't deny the existence of their communities." ROHINGYA REFUGEES IN CAMP (SOUNDBITE) (English) ROHINGYA REFUGEE IN CAMP, SAYEDULLAH (SURNAME UNKNOWN) SAYING: "We discussed about the citizenship, another one is the security, another one is that going to original homelands but we did not success anything, we did not get any agreement today. We think hopefully we will get tomorrow some points, maybe, not sure, but we discussed about the current situation of the Arakan (Rakhine) state but they did not tell anything. There last week already two village were burned by the Myanmar military and also more than twenty people were dead and injured in Arakan state." ROHINGYA REFUGEES GATHERED OUTSIDE COMMISSION OFFICE SUN SETTING OVER CAMP
- Embargoed: 1st January 2020 17:12
- Keywords: Myanmar Myanmar delegates meet refugees Rohingya Rohingya refugees refugee camp
- Location: COX’S BAZAR, BANGLADESH
- City: COX’S BAZAR, BANGLADESH
- Country: Bangladesh
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace
- Reuters ID: LVA001BAI3SCN
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:A delegation of Myanmar officials visited the sprawling Bangladeshi refugee camps on Wednesday (December 18), where they spoke to several dozen Rohingya refugees in an effort to kickstart a process to repatriate them.
Myanmar says it has been ready to accept back the refugees since January last year and has built camps near the border to receive them.
Rohingya leaders say they want Myanmar to recognise them as an ethnic group with the right to Myanmar citizenship before they return. Rohingya representatives said no progress had been made at Wednesday's talks.
Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya who remain inside Myanmar are mostly denied citizenship and live in conditions Amnesty International has likened to apartheid, confined to camps and villages and unable to travel freely.
Myanmar does not consider the Rohingya a native ethnic group. Many in the Buddhist-majority country call the Rohingya "Bengalis", suggesting they belong in Bangladesh.
Gambia accused Myanmar of violating the 1948 Genocide Convention over a military campaign that drove more than 730,000 Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar to Bangladesh. It has asked the International Court of Justice to order "provisional measures" to prevent more harm.
(Production: Rafiqur Rahman, Louisa Naks) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2019. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None