UNHCR urges Dhaka to talk with Myanmar on refugees

By Masud Karim

DHAKA (Reuters) - Bangladesh should revive talks with Myanmar for repatriation of thousands of Muslims languishing in camps along the border for 16 years, the United Nations refugee agency said on Tuesday.

The UNHCR was trying to revive a three-way dialogue involving Myanmar, Bangladesh and the agency to settle the fate of the refugees, known as Rohingyas, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said.

"It is our objective to re-establish a trilateral mechanism among Bangladesh, Myanmar and UNHCR for repatriation of the refugees to Myanmar," he told reporters.

"Enhanced cooperation that now exists between Myanmar and the international community will create opportunities in the future, hopefully for more meaningful dialogue," he told a news conference, following his meeting with foreign ministry officials in Dhaka.

Bangladesh, which has sheltered nearly 27,000 Rohingyas in two camps, said it would make fresh efforts for their repatriation.

"We will be working with Myanmar and UNHCR on this," Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, foreign affairs adviser to the country's army-backed interim government.

Myanmar has repeatedly said it was trying to resume the process to take back the refugees, but it hasn't yet started the process, Bangladesh officials say.

Around 250,000 Rohingyas fled to Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar border region in early 1992, alleging persecution by the military in Myanmar's western Rakhaine state, which borders Bangladesh.