MYANMAR and Bangladesh signed a deal yesterday to start repatriating 620,000 Rohingya refugees within two months.

US Secretary of state Rex Tillerson had accused Myanmar the previous day of “ethnic cleansing” of the Muslim minority in western Rakhine state, which Myanmar considers Bangladeshi immigrants.

The office of Myanmar’s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi said that the agreement was for “the return of displaced persons from Rakhine state" in the capital Naypyitaw.