Malaysia says Myanmar to take back 5,000 Rohingya refugees

Myanmar has agreed to take back 5,000 Rohingya from Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur said on Wednesday, in a rare repatriation push announced days after Malaysian authorities had detained dozens of refugees.

Malaysia hosts more than 215,000 refugees and asylum seekers registered with the UN refugee agency, including more than 126,000 members of Myanmar’s persecuted Rohingya minority, making them the country’s largest refugee community.

“People ask why we do not simply send them back. Send them where? Myanmar had refused to accept them before,” Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said during a visit to a town east of the capital, according to local media.