Myanmar team due today to convince Rohingyas to go back

A high-powered delegation from Myanmar arrives in the capital today (Friday) to interact with the Rohingya refugees and try to motivate them to believe that the Myanmar government will ensure their safety and security if they are willing to return to their homes in Rakhine state.
"The team will visit the Rohingya camps in Cox's Bazaar tomorrow (Saturday). Bangladeshi officials and International agencies' officials will accompany them", a senior official at the Foreign Ministry told the daily Observer on Thursday.
A high-level team from Myanmar will visit Cox's Bazar on Saturday where they will interact with the Rohingya refugees and try to convince them to return to their homes in Rakhine state, he added.
"The 15-member delegation, led by the permanent secretary of Myanmar's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, will arrive
in Dhaka today on a three-day visit to Bangladesh," the officials said.
Bangladesh is now hosting over 1.2 million Rohingyas in Cox's Bazar and most of them entered Bangladesh since August 25 amid military crackdown against them in Rakhine state in 2017.
Following several meetings, Bangladesh and Myanmar signed a deal in November, 2017 to take back Rohingyas from Bangladesh and schedule to start the repatriation on November 15, 2018, could not go ahead because of Myanmar's failure to create conducive environment.
Bangladesh is ready to begin the repatriation any time. It is up to Myanmar to create a conducive environment so the Rohingyas can return home safely, with dignity. But due to the non-cooperation and unwillingness of the Myanmar government, it did not happen.
Rohingyas have already told that they would only return in a situation verified by the international community, as they do not trust the Myanmar government.
Despite preparations from both the countries, Rohingyas in Cox's Bazar camps refused to return in November last year, arguing that the conditions were not safe and secure, and that there was no guarantee for their citizenship and recognition as an ethnic group.
The Bangladesh Foreign Ministry said the JWG held substantive discussions on issues related to safe, dignified and sustainable repatriation of the forcibly displaced Myanmar citizens.
According to the Foreign Ministry, Bangladesh in a statement earlier had highlighted the need for deeper engagement between the Myanmar authorities and the prospective returnees with a view to convincing and motivating them.
Foreign Ministry's official said the team will have a meeting with the foreign secretary in charge in Bangladesh on Sunday.