AMN / DHAKA
The governments of Myanmar and Bangladesh have agreed to begin the repatriation of Rohingya Muslims in November.
Members of a joint working group reached the agreement in Dhaka, the Bangladeshi capital, on Tuesday.
Bangladeshi Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haque said the members are looking forward to starting the repatriation of the first group by mid-November.
The Permanent Secretary of Myanmar’s Ministry of Foreign Affiars, Myint Thu, said the joint group came up with the very concrete result on the commencement of the repatriation.
But the officials did not say how many people would be in the first group or when the repatriation would be completed.
An estimated 720,000 Rohingya have fled their homes in Myanmar and sought shelter in Bangladesh.
Violence erupted last year when Myanmar’s security forces launched a crackdown on Rohingya militants in the western state of Rakhine.
The 2 governments had initially planned to start the repatriation in January. But many Rohingya did not want to return because they feared they would be persecuted.