‘Myanmar has assured China of taking back Rohingya refugees’

Dhaka, Oct 23 (IANS): During a phone call, Bangladesh Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen was assured by his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi that Myanmar has assured Beijing of taking back Rohingya refugees currently sheltered in Cox’s Bazar, it was announced on Friday.

In a statement, the Bangladesh Foreign Ministry said the assurance came during the call on Thursday evening on the sidelines of a donors’ conference, The Daily Star newspaper reported.

Myanmar informed China that it was working to take back the Rohingya as the Covid-19 situation improves, the statement quoted the Chinese Minister as saying.

Wang told Momen that Myanmar wants to start fresh discussions on the Rohingya repatriation after its November 8 general elections.

First, a meeting at ambassador-level and then a trilateral meeting among China, Bangladesh and Myanmar will be held, the statement quoted the Chinese Minister as saying further.

He stressed on trilateral senior official-level meeting in Dhaka at the soonest.

In its latest update, the UN Refugee Agency has said that there were 8,60,697 Rohingya living in Bangladesh currently.

Since the Rohingya exodus began in 2017, Cox’s Bazar, the southeast coastal district, now has the world’s largest refugee camp.

The Bangladesh government has allowed the Rohingya to camp on 6,500 acres of land, which is about 27 square kilometres.