Rohingya Repatriation: Myanmar's baffling claim

Myanmar has come up with a baffling claim that Bangladesh is responsible for delaying the repatriation process of over 600,000 Rohingyas in hopes of gaining from international donations.

Myanmar was ready to begin the repatriation process any time, based along the lines of an agreement that covered returns of Rohingya to Myanmar in the early 1990s, Reuters reports yesterday quoting Zaw Htay, a spokesman for Myanmar's de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi.

Claiming Bangladesh had yet to accept those terms, Zaw Htay linked the delay by Bangladesh to the money raised so far by the international community to help build gigantic refugee camps for the Rohingyas.

"Currently they (Bangladesh) have got $400 million. Over their receipt of this amount, we are now afraid of delaying the programme of deporting the refugees," he said in comments carried in a front-page article in the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper on Wednesday.