NUG prime minister reiterates vow to seek favourable conditions for return of Muslim refugees

By DMG 30 Aug 2022

DMG Newsroom
30 August 2022, Sittwe 

The prime minister of the National Unity Government said the NUG is among several domestic and international actors that are trying to create favourable conditions for the return of Muslims living in Bangladesh after their violent expulsion from Arakan State in 2016-2017. 

In an online meeting on August 29 between the NUG and some of the Muslims who are taking refuge in Bangladesh, Prime Minister Mahn Win Khaing Than said they are making progress in this regard.  

“In order for the Rohingya refugees who are sheltering in neighbouring countries to return to their homeland in a safe and sustainable manner with their own consent and dignity, I would like to promise again that the National Unity Government, together with the ethnic organisations, the Bangladesh government and the United Nations, is trying to create suitable conditions for the Rohingya people to return home,” he said. 

Mahn Win Khaing Than continued that the NUG is doing three things toward this end, working to create the conditions to help Muslims return to their homeland; to further justice and accountability for those persecuted; and to provide equality in law and practice. 

The NUG similarly pledged to strive to create favourable conditions for Muslims to return in its statement on the fifth anniversary of the 2017 atrocities against Muslims, which the organisation released on August 25. 

Meanwhile, Myanmar’s military regime is planning to bring back 700 Muslims initially, repatriating about 150 per week in the preliminary phase of a return programme that will be scaled up, the Arakan State military council has said. 

U Aung Thaung Shwe, a former Lower House MP for Buthidaung Township, expressed cynicism and pessimism about the ostensible efforts of both the junta and its NUG adversary. 

“The military council and the NUG are working on the repatriation of Muslims with the aim of trying to look good internationally,” the ex-legislator said. “In the case of the military council, it is only a game to reduce international pressure, and in the case of the NUG, it is only a game to gain international support. If true, the issue of repatriation of Muslims must be discussed with the ULA/AA [United League of Arakan/Arakan Army]. I want to say that the military council and NUG’s efforts to repatriate Muslims will not succeed.” 

More than 700,000 Muslims from Arakan State fled to neighbouring Bangladesh after the Myanmar military carried out violent “clearance operations” in response to attacks on security personnel by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) in October 2016 and August 2017. 

The now-ousted National League for Democracy (NLD) government led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi tried in vain to repatriate Muslim refugees in the years prior to its ouster in February 2021. The NUG includes several members of the NLD in exile. 

U Than Soe Naing, a political analyst, said that although the junta is purportedly preparing to accept Muslim returnees, it is impossible for the Muslims who fled at the hands of the military’s clearance operations to trust the regime and voluntarily repatriate. 

“There is no capacity in the military council to carry out activities such as providing security and granting citizenship rights to Muslim returnees,” he added. “The military conflict between the AA and the military has only just begun and it is believed that the fighting will soon spread to the whole of Arakan State. That’s why the regime announced to the international community that it will try to accept the Muslim returnees at the end of September, but I don’t think it will actually make anything happen.” 

The junta-controlled Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement earlier this month, saying the regime is carrying out a systematic screening process for acceptance of Muslim returnees in accordance with the agreements signed between Myanmar and Bangladesh. The ministry added that in accordance with Myanmar’s 1982 Citizenship Law, appropriate citizenship status is granted to those who meet the criteria without ethnic or religious discrimination.  

Returnees will be accommodated at transit camps in Taungpyo Letwe, Nga Khuya and Hla Poe Kaung in Maungdaw Township, U Hla Thein, spokesman for Arakan State’s military government, told DMG. 

Arakan State observers have said Muslim refugees in Bangladesh are unlikely to return to Myanmar for now, due to the increasingly fraught dynamics that have accompanied last year’s military coup, and because of the complicated situation unfolding in Arakan State presently.