[International] Rohingya Refugee Crisis Enters 9th Year; Myanmar Claims Willingness to Accept 300,000 Former Rakhine Residents

The Myanmar military-backed government announced today (15th) that over 300,000 Rohingya refugees living in camps in Bangladesh are former residents of Myanmar's western Rakhine State, and that the Myanmar government will accept their return once the security situation improves. The statement from the Myanmar Ministry of Foreign Affairs comes as the Rohingya refugee crisis enters its ninth year, with hundreds of thousands still residing in refugee camps in Bangladesh after fleeing Myanmar in August 2017. At that time, the Myanmar military launched a crackdown on the Rohingya in Rakhine State following attacks on outposts by Rohingya insurgent groups. This operation led to over 700,000 Rohingya crossing the border into Bangladesh, joining hundreds of thousands of Rohingya who had already lived in Bangladesh for decades after fleeing previous waves of violent crackdowns by the Myanmar military. The scale, organization, and brutality of this operation have drawn accusations of ethnic cleansing and genocide against Myanmar from the international community, including the United Nations (U.N.). Myanmar does not recognize the Rohingya as one of the country's 135 official ethnic groups, instead referring to them as "Bengalis," implying they originate from Bangladesh and are residing illegally in Myanmar. Myanmar stated that as of the end of July, it had verified 426,545 individuals from a refugee list of 828,824 provided by Bangladesh, confirming that 308,797 of them were former residents of Rakhine State. The Myanmar Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that 113,507 individuals could not be verified, and another 4,241 were found to be involved in what it termed terrorist activities. The ministry's statement indicated that it would continue to cooperate with Bangladesh to accept verified former residents once the security situation in Rakhine State stabilizes. The ministry also refuted claims of over one million displaced people from Rakhine State, stating that over 540,000 crossed into Bangladesh after the 2017 violence, while over 200,000 remained in northern Rakhine State. Myanmar and Bangladesh reached a 2-year repatriation process agreement in 2018. However, after the military overthrew the elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021, widespread armed resistance erupted, worsening the security situation in Myanmar and leading to the failure of the refugee repatriation plan. In 2023, renewed fighting between the Arakan Army, an ethnic minority force within Rakhine State, and the Myanmar military for control of the region has caused further chaos, forcing more refugees to flee to Bangladesh and elsewhere in a desperate search for safety. The Arakan Army has seized territory from the military in recent years, controlling large parts of Rakhine State. In recent years, dire conditions in refugee camps, significant cuts in foreign aid, and a lack of security prospects for return to Myanmar have led an increasing number of Rohingya refugees to attempt perilous sea voyages to Malaysia and Indonesia on makeshift boats. (Editor: Chung Chin-lung)