Myanmar team to vet Rohingya

Offers to take 2,000 back, subject to checks

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN : Myanmar will send officials to Thailand to help investigate whether about 2,000 Rohingya migrants now being sheltered in Thailand are from Myanmar's restive Rakhine state.

Surapong Tovichakchaikul, deputy prime minister and foreign minister, said Myanmar is unconvinced all the migrants were from the Rakhine state despite the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees confirming that most were.

The Myanmar government believes some of them might be from Bangladesh, which adjoins Rakhine state, he said.

Mr Surapong said Myanmar foreign minister Wanna Maung Lawin had informed him that Nay Pyi Taw was ready to take the Rohingya back to Rakhine if it could be established from the probe they were from Myanmar.

Mr Surapong yesterday asked his Myanmar counterpart to help solve the Rohingya migrants problem and to take them back home.

The request was made on the eve of the Asean Foreign Ministers Meeting, which is being held today to prepare for the 22nd Asean summit scheduled for April 24 and 25 in Brunei.

"The Myanmar foreign minister said he would convey my concern to President Thein Sein and he would send officials to Thailand to look into the Rohingya issue," Mr Surapong said.

Of the 2,000 Rohingya, about 500 are women and children.

The minister said he told his Myanmar counterpart the government had issued a six-month operation plan to help take care of the migrants, and that three months have already passed.

His Myanmar counterpart confirmed Myanmar would cooperate with Thailand and international organisations such as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in helping solve the issue, he said.

Thailand also asked Myanmar to help improve the quality of life for Rohingya people in Rakhine state, Mr Surapong said.

Aside from the Rohingya migration problem, the minister said he had asked his Myanmar counterpart to help solve the problem of forest fires and haze in Thailand's North.

Mr Surapong said Myanmar farmers normally burnt trees and grass to clear land between February and May along the northern Thai-Myanmar border.

He said the countries agreed to set up a joint working committee to solve the problem.

Thailand will also ask Laos, which shares a border, to take part in the efforts when the cabinet meets in Chiang Mai next month.

Thailand also asked Myanmar to help bring back refugees along the northern Thai-Myanmar border as he had heard some of them wanted to return home but they were still concerned about their livelihoods.

Mr Surapong said he was worried about the living conditions of the refugees at the camps along the border.

Thirty-seven Karen hilltribe people were killed after a fire broke out at the Ban Mae Surin refugee camp in Mae Hong Son's Khun Yuam district on March 24.

The Thai-Myanmar bilateral talks yesterday followed similar discussions between Thailand and Brunei.

Thailand is a coordinator in solving the South China Sea dispute.

Mr Surapong said he told his Brunei counterpart Mohamed Bolkiah that the code of conduct in the South China Sea should be adopted quickly to ensure stability in the region.

Meanwhile, Arthayudh Srisamoot, head of the Asean Affairs Department, said yesterday senior officials from the 10 Asean countries had discussed setting up an Asean Institute for Peace and Reconciliation (AIPR).

The issue will be reported to the Asean Foreign Ministers' Retreat today.

Mr Arthayudh said the AIPR would be set up in the form of a think-tank in the first phase and would be run by representatives from all 10 Asean countries.

The AIPR will have its headquarters at a university in Jakarta, Indonesia.