Rohingya boatpeople relocated to Medan

Local immigration office in Aceh has relocated 195 Rohingya boatpeople, who have been staying in two different locations in the province since early this year, to Medan, North Sumatra.

Bambang Widodo, head of the office, told Antara news agency Thursday that they were going to relocate 183 Rohingyas from a shelter in Sabang and 13 others from another shelter in Idi Rayeuk.

The relocated Rohingyas were all men. They were carrying only one travel bag each and each wore an identity tag.

Foreign Ministry had said that the boatpeople were supposed to be repatriated to Bangladesh once their identity verification was cleared by their original country.

There are a total of 388 Rohingya people in Aceh, all escaped their home countries of Myanmar and Bangladesh because of alleged persecution by the governments.