Bangladesh Confirms Talks With AA Over Rohingya Repatriation
Bangladesh has confirmed it is holding discussions with the ethnic Arakan Army (AA) in tandem with talks with Myanmar’s regime as it seeks a solution to the long-running Rohingya refugee crisis.
Speaking at a policy dialogue in Dhaka on Sunday, Shama Obaed Islam, Bangladesh’s state minister for foreign affairs, said the government had formed a committee to develop a national strategy on the Rohingya issue and was engaging both Naypyitaw and the AA, according to Bangladeshi outlets.
The minister said relying solely on conventional diplomatic channels to secure the return of Rohingya refugees was unrealistic.
Her remarks were a rare public acknowledgment that Bangladesh is in contact with the AA, which now controls 14 of 17 townships in Rakhine State and virtually the entire Bangladesh-Myanmar border following a series of battlefield victories over Myanmar military forces since late 2023.
At the same event, former Bangladesh interim government adviser and retired Brigadier General M Sakhawat Hossain argued that Dhaka should maintain good relations with the AA and engage with it either directly or through intermediaries. He said Bangladesh needed to view the Rohingya issue strategically, noting that the group had become a dominant force in Rakhine, which shares a border with Bangladesh.
“We have to play a strategic game. Sooner or later, Rakhine will become either a confederated state or something similar. We must maintain good relations and negotiate with the Arakan Army, either directly or through third parties,” he was quoted as saying.
The AA’s territorial gains have forced Bangladesh to adapt to new realities across the frontier. According to the Center for Arakan Studies, Bangladeshi authorities have gradually adopted a pragmatic approach toward trade with AA-controlled areas, acknowledging the group’s control of border infrastructure even without formally recognizing it.
Cross-border trade through the Teknaf-Kanyinchaung route resumed earlier this year after prolonged disruption caused by fighting in Rakhine. Traders say Bangladesh, alongside India, has become an increasingly important source of food, medicine and other essential supplies for communities in AA-held territory, as the regime has imposed blockades on roads and waterways linking the state with rest of the country.
The Rohingya refugee crisis remains among Bangladesh’s most pressing concerns. The country hosts more than one million Rohingya refugees, most of whom fled a military crackdown in northern Rakhine in 2017. Repatriation efforts led by Bangladesh and Myanmar have repeatedly failed to produce results.
Analysts argue that any future repatriation plan will require cooperation from the AA, which controls much of the territory to which refugees would eventually return.
Despite renewed diplomatic efforts, major obstacles remain. The Myanmar regime’s Foreign Ministry said in August that it had verified nearly 309,000 Rohingya in Bangladesh as former residents of Rakhine State, but said repatriation would proceed only when security conditions improve. It also insisted that only about 540,000 Rohingya had fled to Bangladesh.
During the recent UN General Assembly, Bangladesh called on the international community to help repatriate 1.2 million Rohingya. The UN has meanwhile warned that ongoing fighting and military airstrikes in Rakhine mean conditions are not yet conducive to the safe and voluntary return of refugees.
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