Red Cross Says Conditions Not Right for Rohingyas to Return

FILE - In this Sept. 16, 2017, file photo, Abdul Kareem, a Rohingya Muslim man, carries his mother, Alima Khatoon, to a refugee camp after crossing over from Myanmar into Bangladesh, at Teknaf, Bangladesh. Photo: Dar Yasin / Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS — The International Committee of the Red Cross says conditions are not right for Rohingya Muslim refugees to return safely to Myanmar from Bangladesh, where over 700,000 have sought refuge since August 2017 following a military crackdown.

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Robert Mardini is the organization’s U.N. observer. He told reporters Wednesday that the conflict between the Rohingya and Myanmar’s government is not resolved and added that there is no place to go back to because “so many villages” are flattened in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, where the Rohingya live.

Mardini said that “we still believe that the conditions are not right for voluntary, safe, dignified returns.”

The International Committee of the Red Cross is one of the very few humanitarian organizations operating in Rakhine.

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