Myanmar urges repatriation of Rohingya ahead of monsoon season

Myanmar's Social Welfare Minister Win Myat Aye says repatriation of Rohingya Muslims who fled persecution in the country to Bangladesh should start as soon as possible due to the coming monsoon season.

"Our main thing is to start the repatriation process as soon as possible because the monsoon is very near and we are very worried for those who fled to Bangladesh," Win told reporters in Yangon on Thursday.

The minister, who heads so-called rehabilitation efforts in Myanmar’s troubled western Rakhine state, also expressed concerns about "very poor conditions" in Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh.

"Seeing is believing and we saw all the people in the camps are in very poor condition," Win said after his two-day visit to camps near Cox's Bazar.

The Rohingya camps are clustered in a part of Bangladesh that records the highest rainfall. Most now live in flimsy, bamboo-and-plastic structures perched on what were once forested hills.

The UN says about 150,000 refugees in Bangladesh's southeast are extremely vulnerable to disease and disaster in this rainy season.

Humanitarian groups have been racing to reinforce the basic shelters erected hastily by the Rohingya as they fled across the border after a fierce army crackdown on the community in western Myanmar.

A group of international advisers on Rohingya issues has already warned the coming monsoon season could bring "enormous deaths" as refugee camps in Bangladesh are not built to withstand the storms.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Win said Rohingya returnees would be entitled to apply for National Verification Cards (NVCs) that falls short of offering them citizenship. He said those NVC holders would be in turn be able to apply for citizenship in Buddhist-majority Myanmar within five months after they were "scrutinized according to the law".

"Those who are entitled to become citizens will become citizens," the minister said, without elaborating.

SS