The Nation
Cha-am
Burma has agreed to take back the socalled Rohingya Muslim boat people if they could be identified as ethnic Bangali who were born in the country, Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piryomya said Friday.
Speaking to reporters after a session with Asean foreign ministers, Kasit said the government of Burma do not recognise "Rohingya" as one of the 135 official ethnic groups residing in their country. But if it could prove that these socalled Rohingya boat people were born in their country, they would take them back.
Asean Foreign Ministers and Asean secretary general
The statement marked the first time that the Burmese military government acknowledge that the problem of Rohingya boat people, thousands of whom have landed on the shore of Thailand, Indonesia and found floating on the territorial water of neighbouring countries, including India, is linked to Burma.
Kasit said the Asean Secretariat would serve as the coordinator for countries burdened with the arrival of the Rohingya boat people.
These countries include Thailand, Bangladesh, Indonesia and other destination or transit nations.
Kasit said the issue of Rohingya boat people will be further discuss at the Bali Process on April 14, 15 in Indonesia. Bali Process, cochaired and founded by Indonesia and Australia, brings participants together to work on practical measures to help combat people smuggling, trafficking in persons and related transnational crimes in the AsiaPacific region.
