Villagers in Myanmar have told Sky News they will leave if Rohingya refugees return to their old lands.
It is almost a year since hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims began fleeing Myanmar's northern Rakhine State following violence which the UN labelled ethnic cleansing.
Village leaders could not confirm if any of the insurgents were Rohingya but said they could no longer live near each other. "If they come back we will leave our village; we called a meeting to discuss their return. Even the older people said they couldn't live with them," said San Tun to Sky News.
Despite the hostility, since January officials in Myanmar have said they are ready to repatriate refugees from camps in Bangladesh.
In one of the repatriation centres, a group of men who were said to have come back from Bangladesh revealed that in fact, they had not visited the country. Instead, they said they had been transferred from a prison in Myanmar after being charged with illegal immigration.
They explained soldiers arrested them in their village in northern Rakhine and accused them of coming from Bangladesh, a charge they deny.
Immigration director U Win Khine confirmed the centre had not processed any repatriated refugees since it opened in January. "They're not coming back yet because they are enjoying the aid they are getting in Bangladesh," he said.
Last August, more than 700,000 Rohingya fled a campaign of rape, murder and arson, accusing security forces of carrying out the violence in revenge for attacks by Muslim insurgents.
The United States has imposed sanctions on four Myanmar military and police commanders and two army units, accusing them of "ethnic cleansing" against Rohingya Muslims and widespread human rights abuses.
source: Sky News