Rohingya Return: Dhaka to set up 2 camps this month

Bangladesh is going to complete a “list of a reasonable number of Rohingya families” and set up two repatriation camps within this month as part of the process of sending back the refugees to Myanmar.

An inter-ministerial meeting held at the foreign ministry yesterday discussed the progress of matching the government-prepared refugee data with the one made by UNHCR.

Bangladesh had prepared a database of individual Rohingyas but Myanmar wanted a family-wise list, which only the UNHRC prepared.

That's why the government signed a deal with UNCHR and is taking support from the body.

“We are now matching our data with the UNHCR data and expecting to finalise lists of several families within the third week of this month. We are hopeful of handing over a complete list of a reasonable number of Rohingya families to Myanmar authorities for their verification,” said an official who attended the meeting.

The official said Myanmar would get two months' time to verify the list.

Bangladesh would set up two camps, one for repatriation over land and another via river, the official said.

Sources said the return of Rohingyas was still a long way away as Bangladesh was yet to send the advance list of prospective returnees.

Myanmar would send a “complicated” form which would have to be filled by Bangladesh and sent back to Myanmar for final verification. The process would consume a lot of time, they said.