Top-level UN team arrives in Myanmar to probe Rohingya crisis

Members of a UN Security Council team probing Myanmar's crisis over its ethnic Rohingya Muslim minority arrived in the country's capital on Monday after a visit to Bangladesh, where about 700,000 Rohingya who fled military-led violence live in refugee camps.

The UN delegation will meet Myanmar's top leader, State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, and military commander Senior General Min Aung Hlaing during its two-day visit before travelling to northern Rakhine state, the area from which the Rohingya fled.

They are expected to see the aftermath of the army's crackdown as well as the government's preparations for taking back the refugees from Bangladesh.

TRT World's Reagan Des Vignes reports.

Repatriation of Rohingya

"The ministers will discuss in detail the repatriation of the refugees agreed by the two countries and resettlement plans for the returnees," Foreign Affairs Permanent Secretary Myint Thu said. 

He said that on Tuesday, the UN delegates would be taken to refugee reception centres as well as villages in northern Rakhine.

The army launched counterinsurgency sweeps in Rakhine after attacks last August on security personnel. 

The military has been accused of massive human rights violations – including rape, killing, torture and the burning of Rohingya homes – that UN and US officials have called ethnic cleansing.

Myanmar's government agreed to allow the delegates' visit after previously rejecting UN requests for a visit by a specially appointed independent fact-finding committee. 

That team said in March that it found evidence of human rights violations against the Kachin, Shan and Rohingya minorities "in all likelihood amounting to crimes under international law."

The Kachin and the Shan are other ethnic minorities who seek greater autonomy and are engaged in armed conflict against government forces.

Britain's UN ambassador, Karen Pierce – a member of the visiting delegation – said after the group's visit to the Kutupalong refugee camp in Bangladesh over the weekend that the Security Council would continue to work on enabling the refugees to return to Myanmar, but that the Rohingya must be allowed to return under safe conditions.

Thousands of refugees had gathered amid scorching heat at the camp to welcome the delegation. They carried placards, some of which read "We want justice."

Bangladesh and Myanmar agreed in December to begin repatriating the refugees in January, but there were concerns among aid workers and Rohingya that they would be forced to return and face unsafe conditions in Myanmar.

The UN refugee agency and Bangladesh recently finalised a memorandum of understanding that said the repatriation process must be "safe, voluntary and dignified ... in line with international standards."

Bangladesh urges UNSC to press Myanmar

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina asked the UN Security Council on Monday to press Myanmar to take back hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims camped in her country as refugees.

"They should put more pressure on the Myanmar government so that they take their citizens back to their country. That's what we want," Hasina told reporters.

She said the refugees should return "under UN supervision where security and safety should be ensured."

"They want to go back to their own country. So the Security Council can play a very pivotal role," she added.