Myanmar’s military government verified nearly 309,000 Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh as former Rakhine State residents but maintained repatriation would begin only when security conditions improved.

The Foreign Ministry said in a statement over the weekend that 308,797 people had been verified from a list of 828,824 names submitted by Bangladesh as of July 31.

The ministry added that 4,241 people were identified as being involved in “terrorist activities”, while another 113,507 could not be verified.

In August 2017, attacks by a Rohingya insurgent group on Myanmar security personnel triggered a brutal campaign by the military that drove at least 740,000 Rohingya to Bangladesh. The military is accused of mass rape, killings and burning villages, and the scale of its offensive led to accusations of ethnic cleansing and genocide from the international community, including the UN. Many Rohingya have continued to leave Myanmar through dangerous land and sea routes.

Myanmar’s military is currently fighting the Arakan Army, an ethnic armed group seeking greater autonomy in Rakhine State.

The military government says repatriation can only proceed once security conditions in the state become more stable.

Myanmar maintains that Rohingya repatriation is a bilateral issue with Bangladesh. Previous arrangements between the two countries in 2018 and 2019 failed to result in any returns despite preparations on both sides.

Myanmar has also agreed to take back 5,000 Rohingya asylum seekers from Malaysia, although Kuala Lumpur has said repatriation will not proceed if their lives could be at risk.