The recent surge of violence began after an insurgent group, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, attacked at least 30 security outposts in Myanmar in late August. The military and Buddhist mobs then retaliated against Rohingya across Rakhine in a frenzy of murders, rapes and razing villages to the ground. The UN has described the violence as textbook ethnic cleansing. Many of the people who fled earlier violence and moved into displacement camps inside Myanmar have been unable to leave those camps for years. Most Rohingya lived in poverty in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, near the border with Bangladesh. The gradual repatriation of more than 650,000 Rohingya Muslim refugees to Myanmar from Bangladesh has been postponed amid widespread fears that refugees would be forced to return against their will, a Bangladeshi official has said. The main thing is that the process has to be voluntary,” said Abul Kalam, the refugee and repatriation commissioner. He added that paperwork for returning refugees had not yet been finalised and transit camps had yet to be built in Bangladesh. Myanmar had announced that the repatriation process would begin on Tuesday, two months after the signing of the first agreement on returns, on 23 November. Bangladeshi officials, however, have appeared reluctant to confirm a start date. Bangladesh’s foreign minister, told a press conference he could not could not give a specific day. “The process is ongoing, he said. You will see when it begins.It was not immediately clear whether a new commencement date would be set.

There have been concerns among international aid workers and the Rohingya that the refugees could be coerced to go back to Myanmar. Most Rohingya refugees fled the country just months ago, escaping attacks by security forces and Buddhist mobs.If they send us back forcefully we will not go. He added that Myanmar authorities “have to give us our rights and give us justice,The agreement signed in November said the hundreds of thousands of Rohingya who had fled Myanmar since August would eventually leave Bangladesh in a process that guaranteed them “safety, security and dignity. Rohingya leaders drew up a list last week of minimum demands they said needed to be met before the refugees would agree to return. These include holding the military accountable for alleged killings, looting and rape, and releasing “innocent Rohingya” detained in counter-insurgency operations. David Mathieson, a human rights researcher who has spent years working on Rohingya issues, criticised the agreement before the latest announcement. It’s a fantasyland, make-believe world that both governments are in, he said, noting that security forces in Myanmar had just forced hundreds of thousands of Rohingya across the border. Now you’re expecting them to come back, as if they’re in a conga line of joy after what you did to them? The Rohingya Muslims have long been treated as outsiders in largely Buddhist Myanmar, derided as Bengalis, illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, even though generations have lived in Myanmar. Nearly all have been denied citizenship since 1982, in effect rendering them stateless.

They are denied freedom of movement and other basic rights. Médecins Sans Frontières estimates that at least 6,700 Rohingya died in the attacks, which sent more than 650,000 fleeing across the border. Following up on their November agreement, Bangladesh and Myanmar signed a deal this month to begin sending back the refugees from this Tuesday. Officials have said they expect about 1,500 refugees to go back each week, though only those with identity documents, which most Rohingya lack, will be allowed into Myanmar. Both countries are keen to start the repatriations. Bangladesh is weary of hosting Rohingya who have spilled across the border for decades. More than a million are now believed to live in Bangladesh. Myanmar, meanwhile, hopes the repatriations will lessen the international condemnation it has faced because of the violence. The first of much-feared rains fell on the Bangladeshi border town of Cox’s Bazar on Wednesday, bringing with it apprehension and the first signs of flooding in the camps hosting Rohingya refugees who have fled a violent crackdown in Myanmar. An early morning downpour that fell on the flimsy bamboo and tarpaulin shacks of the sprawling camp marks the beginning of a rainy season which, it is feared, could put at least 150,000 lives at risk. The first bout of rain lasted only an hour, but brought strong winds and left destruction in its wake. Sporadic bouts of rain are now predicted for the rest of the week, though the full monsoon rains and cyclonic storms will not hit properly until late June.

Cox’s Bazar is known for having one of the highest rainfall totals in the country during monsoon season. Many of the overcrowded camps are also built on newly deforested hills, which are susceptible to mud landslides and flash flooding. Bangladesh’s refugee relief and rehabilitation commissioner, Mohammad Abul Kalam, said they were trying to stabilise the slopes using sandbags and other techniques. We have adopted elaborate plans to save the refugees from the risks of the natural disasters during the coming monsoon,” he said, adding that they hoped to relocate all those in high-risk areas within weeks. Around 90,000 of the refugees are living in very high-risk areas and we are planning to relocate them to safer areas on a priority basis. We are developing 700 to 800 acres of forest land on the west of Kutupalong camp, where they all will be relocated to a new, safer area. Speaking on Tuesday, Bangladesh’s prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, re-emphasised a controversial government plan to move 100,000 of the monsoon-vulnerable refugees to Bhasan Char, an uninhabited sediment island in the Bay of Bengal. However, the plans have prompted a backlash from aid agencies, who have raised concerns about living conditions and weather vulnerability of the proposed location, while refugees themselves have said they will refuse to go. Kalam said the island was not yet ready to welcome the refugees. It is being developed to make the place suitable for living. We hope within a month or two it will be ready, he said.Agencies such as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the IOM and the World Food Programme.

Refugees have also been attempting to prepare for the floods over the past few weeks, though the prospect has left many terrified. Shafiqa, 25, who left Buthidaung in Myanmar, described how she had begun rebuilding her hut almost from scratch, digging up mud to fortify the weak frame of the bamboo and tarpaulin shelter. The winds are coming and people say they could break everything, she said. We haven’t been able to build our homes properly, so I’m terrified of the monsoon. There’s no one in the house to help me, my parents are old and it’s dangerous at night, so I’m just trying to strengthen my home by building these mud walls. Ali Johor, who crossed over from Rakhine to Bangladesh in September, was concerned the 10ft x12ft shack he lives in with nine other family members, built on the slope of a hill, would not be able to survive the rain. Rohingya community leaders have rejected an agreement between the United Nations and government of Myanmar for the return of refugees who fled violence in Rakhine state. Having seen a leaked text, the leaders say it does not address their concerns and will not help in the repatriation of the refugees. Myanmar not ready for Rohingya to return, Red Cross chief says.The agreement is on the issue of return of the Rohingya to their homes. Strangely, they did not bother to consult the Rohingya community before going for the deal.In the agreement there is no commitment from the Burmese government to fulfill our key demands as a precondition for our safe return to our homes.

The writer is a contributor to

The Independent