Myanmar chief Min Aung Hlaing arrives in Malaysia for his first go to for the reason that 2021 coup, as deportations of Myanmar nationals draw issues from the UN and rights teams.
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Myanmar’s army leader-turned-president has arrived in Malaysia for talks with Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, as Kuala Lumpur seeks his cooperation to ship again hundreds of Myanmar nationals.
Min Aung Hlaing touched down at Kuala Lumpur worldwide airport at 04:30 GMT on Wednesday, state media photographs confirmed.
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The 2-day go to comes as Malaysia pushes forward with a controversial transfer to repatriate hundreds of Myanmar nationals, regardless of warnings from the United Nations and rights teams that returnees may face severe hazard amid a raging civil warfare.
“The go to supplies the prime minister with a chance to maintain his direct engagement with Myanmar,” the Malaysian authorities stated in an announcement on Tuesday.
Key bilateral points embrace the “voluntary, dignified and secure repatriation of Myanmar nationals of all ethnic teams who’ve been in Malaysia illegally”, it added.
A spokeswoman for Min Aung Hlaing stated “the agenda will embrace discussions on the voluntary, dignified and secure repatriation of Myanmar nationals at present in Malaysia”.
Myanmar has been in turmoil since Min Aung Hlaing led a army coup in 2021, triggering a civil war that has killed an estimated 100,000 folks and displaced greater than 3.5 million.
The army engineered a extensively criticised election that allowed the retired common, who’s topic to Western sanctions, to take up a civilian position — a transition that has led to some strikes in direction of re-engagement with Myanmar.
Since formally changing into president in April, Min Aung Hlaing has visited ASEAN member nations Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, and in addition made journeys to China, India, Russia and Belarus.
Repatriation of Rohingya
In Malaysia, following a wave of on-line hate speech and misinformation earlier this 12 months, stress on undocumented migrants and refugees has grown, significantly towards Rohingya, lots of whom fled a brutal 2017 army crackdown in Myanmar’s Rakhine state.
Final month, Anwar stated in a podcast that he would invite Min Aung Hlaing for an official go to if Myanmar accepted the return of hundreds of Rohingya refugees.
Malaysia has deported about 10,000 Myanmar nationals since January, in accordance with Anwar, who stated Myanmar authorities had given assurances these returning wouldn’t be harmed.
Malaysia is residence to about 215,600 refugees and asylum seekers registered with the UNHCR, together with about 126,000 Rohingya who make up one among Southeast Asia’s largest refugee communities.
Regardless of internet hosting them, Malaysia is just not a celebration to the UN Refugee Conference and treats refugees as undocumented migrants.
