Myanmar agrees to attend May 29 talks, Thailand to decide on Rohingya migrants

Myanmar is likely to attend the talks on the issue of Rohingya migrants on May 29, while Thailand will decide whether to allow the boat people to come ashore or not after the meeting.

Thailand would decide whether to accept them or not after the talks on May 29, Thailand Prime Minister Gen Prayuth Chan-ocha told reporters at the Government House, here.

Malaysia and Indonesia today announced they agreed to offer the boat people temporary shelter.

READ ALSO: Malaysia, Indonesia agree to provide temporary shelter for Rohingya migrants

Gen Prayuth said Thailand was a transit country for the boat people, and although it had more (internal) problems than others, it agreed for measures be found to solve the problem.

The meeting on the Rohingya migrants hosted by Thailand will be attended by at least 18 countries including Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Myanmar, and three international organisations.

Meanwhile, Myanmar Deputy Foreign Minister Thant Kyaw confirmed that the country would attend the meeting although earlier there was a question mark over its presence because Myanmar does not consider the Rohingyas, numbering over a million people in the country, as its citizens, and called them Bengalis.

But he insisted that Myanmar would only take them in if they were Myanmar citizens and the focus should be humanitarian and not political.

"I think the meeting will a good meeting because this is a humanitarian case but if it is for political purpose, I think it will be more complicated and more complex.

"We all have to sit down and consider how to tackle this problem because these are human beings and there is disaster in the sea. We need to solve this problem together," said Thant Kyaw after meeting with his Thai counterpart, here, today.

"Myanmar is thinking of sending a delegation for the May 29 meeting," he added.

He said accepting the migrants required a lot of hard work as Myanmar would need to confirm whether they came from Myanmar's shores.

He said Myanmar needed to do consular assessment to identify whether they were Myanmar people and that they were residents of Myanmar.

"If they are Myanmar people, the Myanmar government would have an obligation to bring them back.

"First thing is that they must be confirmed to be Myanmar people," he said while acknowledging that the migrants who were at sea needed help.

"If they are in trouble in Myanmar waters, we have to give them humanitarian assistance. This is the obligation for every country. So if we find boats in Myanmar waters, I think the Myanmar government has to help," he said.

READ ALSO: What the Rohingya crisis says about racism and politics in Asia