Bangladesh has demanded a clear roadmap from the United Nations on the repatriation of the forcibly displaced Rohingya people to neighboring Myanmar.

Bangladesh is currently hosting over one million Rohingya refugees, mostly in camps across the coastal district of Cox's Bazar, with the last two attempts to send them back falling flat.

Raising the matter at a bilateral meeting with Christine S Burgener, the special envoy of the UN secretary-general on Myanmar, Foreign Minister Abdul Momen said; “We provided shelter to the Rohingya out of humanitarian consideration.

“However, the solution to the crisis lies in their safe and sustainable repatriation to Myanmar, which couldn’t be done in the last four years."

"Now the UN needs to provide us with a clear roadmap on the issue,” he said.

More than 700,000 Rohingya crossed the border into Bangladesh after a 2017 crackdown by the Myanmar military, taking the number of refugees in Bangladesh past 1 million.

Bangladesh signed an agreement with Myanmar for the repatriation of its displaced nationals, but the process to send them back was halted twice in 2019, as the Rohingya refugees refused to return.

Now, Bangladesh has moved 18,890 Rohingya refugees to Bhasan Char, an island in the Noakhali district.

The Rohingya refugees will have opportunities to engage in economic activities in the Bhasan Char project, said Momen, while calling on the UN to provide humanitarian aid to them.

(SAM)