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Myanmar’s military-backed government said Saturday that more than 300,000 Rohingya refugees currently living in Bangladesh have been verified as former residents of Rakhine state and could return once security conditions improve.
The statement from Myanmar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs comes as the Rohingya crisis approaches its ninth anniversary. Hundreds of thousands of refugees remain in Bangladesh after fleeing a military crackdown in August 2017.
Myanmar said it had verified 426,545 names from a list of 828,824 refugees submitted by Bangladesh as of the end of July. Of those verified, 308,797 were identified as former residents of Rakhine.
The ministry said 113,507 people could not be verified, while 4,241 were found to have been involved in what it described as terrorist activities.
It said Myanmar would continue working with Bangladesh to facilitate the return of verified former residents when security conditions in Rakhine become more stable.
More than 700,000 Rohingya crossed into Bangladesh after the Myanmar military launched a crackdown in 2017 following attacks by a Rohingya insurgent group on security posts in Rakhine. They joined hundreds of thousands of Rohingya who had already fled earlier waves of violence.
The military campaign drew widespread international condemnation, with the United Nations and other organisations accusing Myanmar of ethnic cleansing and genocide.
Myanmar does not recognise the Rohingya as one of its 135 officially recognised ethnic groups and instead refers to them as “Bengalis”, suggesting they are migrants from Bangladesh.
The ministry also disputed estimates that more than one million people were displaced from Rakhine, saying more than 540,000 people crossed into Bangladesh following the 2017 violence, while more than 200,000 remained in northern Rakhine.
Myanmar and Bangladesh agreed in 2018 to begin a two-year repatriation process, but repeated attempts to start large-scale returns have failed amid concerns over security and the conditions awaiting refugees in Myanmar.
The situation deteriorated further after Myanmar’s military seized power in 2021, ousting the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi and triggering widespread armed resistance.
Fighting between the military and the Rakhine-based Arakan Army intensified in 2023, forcing more people to flee the conflict. The Arakan Army now controls much of Rakhine after capturing territory from the military.
Meanwhile, deteriorating conditions in Bangladesh’s refugee camps, cuts in international aid and the absence of safe prospects for return have pushed increasing numbers of Rohingya to attempt dangerous sea journeys to Malaysia and Indonesia.
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said in late July that Myanmar had agreed to accept 5,000 Rohingya refugees from Malaysia under a repatriation programme.
Myanmar Foreign Ministry official Han Win Aung later rejected that interpretation, telling The Associated Press that the programme concerned only verified Myanmar nationals held in Malaysian detention centres and that Myanmar had not agreed to accept Rohingya refugees.
The latest statement from Myanmar could revive discussions with Bangladesh over repatriation, but any large-scale return is likely to depend on improved security and conditions in Rakhine.
