Rohingya want to return to Myanmar as citizens: UN

UNITED NATIONS, United States: Myanmar’s Rohingya refugees have told a UN envoy who visited their camp in Bangladesh this week that they will return home if it is safe and if they are granted citizenship rights, a UN statement said on Tuesday.

UN envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, met the Muslim Rohingya in Cox’s Bazar during a three-day visit to Bangladesh from July 14 to 16, just weeks after holding talks with Myanmar’s leaders on the refugee crisis.

The envoy "heard from the people accounts of unimaginable atrocities committed in Rakhine State," said a UN statement. "Despite these serious violations of human rights, they expressed to the envoy their hope to return home if security could be guaranteed and citizenship could be provided," it added. More than 700,000 ethnic Rohingya have fled an offensive by Myanmar troops launched nearly a year ago in reprisal for attacks on border posts by Rohingya rebels.