Malaysia Begins Repatriating 1,476 of 5,000 Myanmar Nationals

Malaysia has begun the first phase of a plan to return up to 5,000 Myanmar nationals from detention centers, with about 1,500 people—1,476 identified by Myanmar’s government—being processed near the Lumut naval base for transport by ship. Malaysia describes the returns as voluntary, but the operation has drawn objections from the U.N. refugee agency and human rights groups, which warn that Myanmar’s ongoing civil war makes safe and sustainable returns untenable. Reporters were barred from the processing site, leaving the returnees’ identities and whether they freely agreed to return difficult to verify; authorities also have not said how many are Rohingya. The initiative follows an agreement between the two governments, while Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has said he plans to invite Myanmar leader Min Aung Hlaing to help advance further returns.