Efforts made by Asean foreign ministers to assist the Rohingya community in Bangladesh to return to Myanmar are based on the principle that it should be undertaken by the bloc as a family, said Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah.

He said the Asean foreign ministers were trying their level best to ensure safe passage for the Rohingya community to return to Rakhine, as without such assurance the community would decline to return.

"The target is for the repatriation to begin after the year-end rainy season. So the repatriation is expected to begin early next year," he told reporters when met after attending a forum at Wisma Putra here today.

In ensuring the Rohingya community’s safe and secure journey home, Singapore Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan and Thailand Foreign Minister Don Paramudwinai will go to Myanmar at end of the month to talk to Myanmar on the matter, Saifuddin said.

He added that the two ministers were chosen because Singapore is the present chair of Asean, and Thailand the next.

"Besides Myanmar, the two foreign ministers will also talk to Bangladesh in understanding the dynamics of Myanmar-Bangladesh relations," he added.

Saifuddin also noted that Asean foreign ministers decided to help the Rohingya community in ensuring their safety and security when they met on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York last month.

The humanitarian crisis in the state of Rakhine has resulted in more than one million Rohingya fleeing to Bangladesh and taking shelter at refugee camps in Cox's Bazar. 

- Bernama