The Bangladeshi authorities are offering $2,000 to each Rohingya family willing to return to their homeland in Myanmar's Rakhine State, as the neighbours are working to facilitate the first pilot repatriation scheme.
Preparations are underway to send back more than 1,100 Rohingyas in the first phase. Officials said that they will be sent back quickly if all goes well.
Apart from this, the two countries are also discussing the repatriation of another 6,000 Rohingyas this year.
Last week, 23 listed refugees were relocated to a transit camp in Kutupalong of Ukhiya from Bhasan Char. They were earlier interviewed by the Myanmar authorities for verification.
Meanwhile, the food ration cut of $2 from $10 became effective on Thursday, as per a previous announcement of the World Food Program (WFP). In March of this year, funding shortages compelled the WFP to reduce the value of its General Food Assistance vouchers from $12 to $10 per person per month.
In Bhasan Char, announcements were made from mosques on Tuesday asking the refugees to meet at the camp office the following day. On Wednesday, around 300 refugees -- all outside the list -- gathered at the camp office with documents related to Myanmar citizenship.
For the second day, more unlisted refugee families gathered at the camp office on Thursday.
According to several refugees in Teknaf of Cox's Bazar, the Rohingya majhis (community leaders) offered the incentive recently after many listed refugees refused to return to Myanmar voluntarily.
Meanwhile, videos on social media suggest that Myanmar authorities have built prefabricated one-storey houses as the repatriation camp in an isolated area in Rakhine. The housing complex is surrounded by barbed wires and four guard posts.
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Officials of the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commission (RRRC) and the UN agencies operating in Cox's Bazar did not make any comments on the incentives.
Bangladesh currently houses around 1.2 million Rohingyas, most of whom fled a military crackdown in Myanmar in 2017, with the influx beginning in 1978.
On April 18, Bangladesh and Myanmar officials met in Kunming to cooperate with China to implement this pilot project on Rohingya repatriation.
As per Bangladesh's demands, 300 per day and five days a week will be repatriated. But Myanmar wants to take in 30 per day due to their lack of preparation.
On May 25, officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commission (RRRC) expressed hope that the repatriation process of Rohingyas would start soon.
No one will be forcibly sent back to Myanmar and Bangladesh is also considering the views of the international community, including the United Nations, on the repatriation of the Rohingya, they said.
During discussions with a visiting Myanmar delegation recently, the Rohingya community made several demands, including their right to citizenship and land. They also demanded to return to their villages and not to camps.
