Exactly four years ago on this day, Myanmar and Bangladesh signed a field agreement to start Rohingya repatriation. The agreement, reached in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar's capital, said repatriation would begin and be completed "within two years, if possible." However, attempts to send Rohingyas to Rakhine failed even after finalizing the two-point date due to lack of conducive environment for their return. In this situation, the big question now is whether the Rohingyas can be sent back at all.
After a year-long standoff over repatriation, Myanmar abruptly sent a proposal to Bangladesh in December. Myanmar has proposed to form a committee with officials from the two countries to finalize the identity of Rohingyas on the repatriation list. The offer was made for the first time since Myanmar's military seized power on February 1 last year.
However, there is no reason to be optimistic about the proposal to form a new committee. Because, Myanmar army carried out genocide against Rohingyas in 2016. So far, work has been done for the repatriation of Rohingya under two agreements of November 2016 and January 2017. As a result, there will be only discussion by setting up a new committee to verify the identity of Rohingyas, there will be no repatriation. This is the old strategy of the military government.
At the same time, Bangladesh is holding regular talks with ASEAN countries to resolve the Rohingya crisis. Myanmar is also a member of ASEAN, an alliance of 10 Southeast Asian countries. The foreign minister last week requested the foreign ministers of Singapore and Vietnam to persuade Myanmar to repatriate Rohingya.
In January last year, talks between Bangladesh and Myanmar, mediated by China, ended with differences of opinion. When and how repatriation would begin, the two closest neighbors were at two poles. Bangladesh wanted the Rohingyas to be sent to villages or certain areas without being isolated. In this way Rohingyas will be able to decide to return with ease. And Myanmar wants repatriation to begin with those whose identities have so far been finalized.
But as talks on repatriation have not progressed in the last four years, there has been no improvement in the environment in Rakhine, which encourages Rohingya to return to their aborigines.
