A Myanmar official in Rakhine state said Saturday that Rohingya refugees who return will not be held in newly-built camps “forever,” as concerns mount over a vexed repatriation process and efforts to reshape communities in the crisis-hit state. Myanmar has been trumpeting its readiness to take back refugees, who are massed across the border in Bangladesh, and built reception centres and transit camps for returnees. Speaking to reporters from his office, Ye Htut insisted that any Rohingya returnees would eventually be resettled close to their original villages after staying in transit camps. “I can’t ask them to live (at the camps) forever…We don’t have any vision or intention to keep them long,” he said. But a visit to one of the resettlement sites intended for Rohingya, whom a government official referred to only as Muslims, showed slow progress.

Source: Dhaka Tribune March 17, 2018 14:03 UTC