Myanmar immigration authorities say Bangladesh has agreed to take back 200 boat people rescued off the Myanmar coast last month according to a VOA report on 3 June.
A total of 208 refugees, all men, and 11 crew members were found aboard the ship, which had been at sea for months. All but eight of the men declared they were from Bangladesh and are being held at a detention camp near Taung Pyo, Myanmar, just a few kilometres from the border with Bangladesh.
The other eight have been identified as Muslim Rohingya from Rakhine state in western Myanmar. The government does not recognize the Rohingya, referring to them as Bengalis.
“The Rohingya need to be treated as citizens of Burma,” Anne Richard, the U.S. State Department's assistant secretary for population, refugees and migration, told reporters Wednesday in Jakarta. “They need papers to show that.”
Authorities said Thursday that the repatriation process for the Bangladesh citizens would begin Sunday.