Early this month, news broke about plans of Myanmar's military regime to start repatriating some 1,000 Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh to Myanmar's Rakhine State. Myanmar's generals are in a hurry. Reportedly, they want to start repatriation by mid-next month, during Ramadan. The choice of that date is no coincidence.
The regime is working to meet an April 24 deadline set by the International Court of Justice. By that date Myanmar has to present a report to the justices in The Hague. It will be in response to allegations by The Gambia that Myanmar's treatment of the Rohingya violates the genocide convention.
Last month, the military regime collected statements from witnesses of atrocities committed in 2017, when its violence drove some 750,000 Rohingya across the border into Bangladesh. It probably hopes the court will be impressed by the statements it collected and bless the start of repatriation.
