Bangladesh and Myanmar have agreed a timeframe for
repatriating hundreds of thousands of Rohingya who fled
crackdowns from the military.
Myanmar has agreed to accept 1,500 Rohingya each week,
Bangladesh says, adding that it aims to return all of them
to Myanmar within two years.
More than 740,000 Rohingya have fled to neighbouring
Bangladesh amid violence in Rakhine state in 2016 and
2017.
Aid agencies have raised concerns about forcibly
repatriating them.
Bangladesh says it aims to repatriate families together, as
well as orphans and "children born out of unwarranted
incidence" - meaning children conceived as a result of
rape.
However, displaced Rohingya in Bangladesh have
expressed concerns about returning to Myanmar.
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Sirajul Mostofa, a community leader in a camp in Cox's
Bazaar, told the BBC: "We are still not clear about what
agreement was signed.
"Our first priority is, they have to grant us citizenship as
Rohingyas. Secondly, they have to give back our lands.
Thirdly, our security must be ensured internationally.
Otherwise, this is not good for us."
Bangladeshi foreign secretary Shahidul Haque told BBC
Bangla that the government had wanted to repatriate the
Rohingya more quickly.
"We asked them to take back 15,000 every week. But they
said they will take back 300 people every day, so that
makes 1,500 every week.
"So we compromised that we will start by sending 300
people each day, but there will be a review in three
months' time and the number will be increased."
'Mistrust and fear'
Jonathan Head, BBC Southeast Asia correspondent
At 1,500 refugees a week it would take almost 10 years to
bring back all 740,000 who have left since October 2016.
Bangladesh hopes that flow can be increased. But as
matters stand it is difficult to see how.
Both countries have agreed the repatriation will be
voluntary. And most refugees say they will only return if
their safety can be assured, their homes rebuilt, and if they
are no longer subjected to official discrimination. None of
these conditions is in place.
Myanmar has started rebuilding, but mostly for non-
Muslims. It is preparing two transit camps, the first able
to accommodate 30,000 people. Beyond that not much has
changed.
More than 350 villages, nearly all of them Rohingya, have
been burned down, some recently. The military, which is
accused of terrible human rights abuses, still runs northern
Rakhine state. It has denied the abuses, denied access to
independent investigators, and strictly limits access for aid
agencies.
There is talk of closing the camps in which 130,000
Rohingyas are still confined, but not yet of ending
restrictions on Rohingya movements. And nothing is yet
happening to reduce the mistrust and fear of Rohingyas
felt by the non-Muslim population, some of whom have
vowed to fight against any large-scale refugee return.
Myanmar's foreign secretary U Myint Thu told BBC
Burmese: "The repatriation process will commence on 23
January."
He said three more transit camps were "under
construction", and there were plans to "build new villages".
A spokesperson from the UN High Commission for
Refugees urged Myanmar to address the underlying causes
of the crisis and said that refugees should only return
when they feel it is safe for them to go back.
Andrej Mahecic said there were major challenges,
including ensuring the Rohingya were "told about the
situation in their areas of origin" and "consulted on their
wishes, that their safety is ensured".
The agreement covers Rohingya who fled to Bangladesh
following attacks by a Rohingya militant group on police
posts in October 2016 and August 2017.
Those attacks triggered a military crackdown that led to
widespread allegations of killings, rape and torture of
Rohingya.
The agreement does not cover Rohingya who fled to
Bangladesh prior to October 2016, under previous
crackdowns and bouts of communal violence.
When the initial repatriation deal was signed in November,
Amnesty International said it doubted there could be safe
or dignified returns "while a system of apartheid remains"
and added that it "hoped those who do not want to go
home are not forced to do so".
The Rohingya are a stateless minority in Myanmar, also
known as Burma.
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The crisis has been described as ethnic cleansing by the
UN and the US.
Despite widespread accusations of human rights violations,
Myanmar has consistently denied persecuting its Rohingya
minority.
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