Dhaka — A Myanmar government minister has told Rohingya refugees living in a makeshift camp on the Bangladesh border they should take up a government offer to return, warning they will face "consequences" if they stay where they are. A video circulated on social media apparently shows Myanmar’s deputy minister for home affairs Aung Soe addressing a group of refugees through a barbed wire fence last Friday. Nearly 700,000 Rohingya have sought sanctuary in Bangladesh since a military crackdown on the Muslim minority in Myanmar last year forced them from their homes. Despite the campaign, which the UN has said amounts to ethnic cleansing, the two governments agreed late last year to repatriate all the newly-arrived refugees. But many say they do not want to return until Myanmar agrees to give them citizenship and guarantees their safety.

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