The United Nations investigators said on September 16 that nearly 600,000 Rohingya Muslims remaining in Myanmar still face a serious risk of violence, warning that the repatriation of a million of this community remains "impossible".
Myanmar and Bangladesh are making a second attempt to start repatriating Rohingya Muslims after more than 700,000 of them fled Myanmar almost two years ago, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said on August 16.
Myanmar Social Welfare Minister Win Myat Aye said Rohingya refugees will return to Myanmar as early as possible although the repatriation process is stagnating and the UN warned that their safety is not ensured.
Malaysian police on January 22 announced that they have arrested two men with links to Islamic State (IS) on suspicion of planning to carry out acts of violence and promoting IS ideology.
Myanmar and Bangladesh have agreed to take assistance from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHRC) to repatriate hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims from Bangladesh to Myanmar.
Myanmar and Bangladesh will hold a ministerial meeting to discuss the humanitarian crisis faced by thousands of Rohingya Muslims, according to an announcement at the end of the 13th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Foreign Ministers’ Meeting on November 21.
Myanmar State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi made her first visit to the country’s northern state of Rakhine, where conflicts forced many Rohingya Muslims to run to neighbouring Bangladesh.
Thousands of people in Myanmar marched in Yangon city on October 29 to support the country’s military, which has come under criticism for its heavy handedness in dealing with Rohingya Muslims.
More than 7,000 people have been granted national verification cards in Myanmar’s northern state Rakhine since local authorities started a verification process on October 1, the Myanmar News Agency reported on October 29.
Government officials from Bangladesh and Myanmar agreed on October 24 to halt the outflow of Rohingya Muslims to Bangladesh and enable the refugees to return home.
More than 123,000 people in Rakhine state of Myanmar, mostly Rohingya Muslims, have fled into Bangladesh since fighting broke out between government military and insurgents late last month, reported the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).
Myanmar on August 12 declared a new curfew in the northern state of Rakhine, where is home to one million Rohingya Muslims, as the government has beefed up its military presence at the state, reported the country’s state media.
The Chairman of the Committee I of Indonesia’s House of Representatives, Abdul Kharis Almasyhari, on November 24 urged the ASEAN member countries to take a more active role in resolving conflicts and putting an end to violence against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.
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