(Bloomberg) -- Myanmar has agreed to take back hundreds of thousands of Muslim Rohingya refugees who’ve been sheltering in neighboring Bangladesh, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Dhaka said in a statement.
Bangladesh Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali and Myanmar’s Union Minister U Kyaw Tint Swe signed the bilateral agreement in Myanmar on Thursday, just a day after U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson condemned Myanmar’s treatment of the Rohingya as “ethnic cleansing."
Under the agreement, the refugees return is expected to start within two months. A joint working group will be established in the next three weeks to oversee the repatriation, according to the statement. The crisis was sparked in August when militants from the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army attacked 25 police and army posts, killing a dozen security officials in Rakhine state and prompting retaliation by Myanmar’s army.
Describing the arrangement as a "win-win situation for both countries", a statement from the Myanmar minister’s office said the matter had been resolved amicably.
“The principled position of Myanmar is that issues that emerge between neighboring countries must be resolved amicably through bilateral negotiations,” the statement said.
On Wednesday, Tillerson said in a statement that “after a careful and thorough analysis of available facts, it is clear that the situation in northern Rakhine state constitutes ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya.” He said the U.S. would work through the United Nations and also “pursue accountability through U.S. law, including possible targeted sanctions.”
The agreement was signed following a meeting between Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi and Bangladesh’s Foreign Minister Ali.
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