BALI, INDONESIA : The Myanmar government will next week begin a screening process to determine where about 2,000 Rohingya migrants now being sheltered in Thailand came from, Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul says.
Mr Surapong said his Myanmar counterpart Wanna Muang Lwin had informed him that Nay Pyi Taw had set up a working group, led by Myanmar ambassador to Thailand Myo Tint, to begin examining the origins of the Rohingya next week.
The ministers met for bilateral talks on the sidelines of the Forum for East Asia-Latin America Cooperation (Fealac) in Indonesia yesterday.
The Myanmar move to deal with the Rohingya problem in Thailand was the result of earlier talks between the two in Brunei's capital Bandar Seri Begawan on the sidelines of the Asean Ministerial Meeting on April 10-11.
Mr Surapong had at that time asked Myanmar to take back the Rohingya migrants in Thailand. However, Nay Pyi Taw was not convinced all 2,000 had travelled from Rakhine State, claiming some might have travelled from Bangladesh's border area to Myanmar.
Nay Pyi Taw still refuses to recognise most Rohingya as Myanmar citizens.
The screening will help determine whether they really had travelled from Rakhine State, Mr Surapong said.
He said the Rohingya migrants, including children and women, had been fleeing Rakhine State in western Myanmar to Thailand via boat since early this year.
The Thai government in January agreed to give them shelter for six months, which expires soon.
Mr Surapong said he had also called on the European Union to help Thailand tackle the Rohingya migrant problem. Some EU countries should consider accepting these migrants into their countries as they are richer than Thailand, he said.
He said he had delivered this message through German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle when he visited the country last week.
He said he wanted other international organisations to help Thailand deal with the Rohingya problem. The international community should not let Thailand tackle the problem alone.
Meanwhile, Mr Surapong has asked Myanmar to lend a white elephant to Chiang Mai Zoo for six months to celebrate the 65th anniversary of Thai-Myanmar relations next year.
"We have chosen Chiang Mai Zoo as the venue because Chiang Mai has had diplomatic ties with Myanmar for more than 200 years," he said.