BANGLADESH TO MEET WITH MYANMAR

DHAKA : Representatives from Bangladesh and Myanmar will meet soon to discuss the repatriation to Myanmar of more than 6,500 -

Rohingya Muslims trapped on a strip of unclaimed land between the two countries, Bangladesh officials said.

''It is about to taking them back to Myanmar,'' Relief and Refugee and Repatriation Commissioner told Reuters. ''They are on the zero line and actually on Myanmar side.''

However, several officials contacted in neighboring Myanmar said they were not aware of plans for meeting. which the Commissioner said would take place on  ''zero line''  near a place called Gundum.

A spokeswoman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees [UNHCR], which will not be involved in the talks, said the agency was-

Concerned the Rohingya may be forcibly returned to Myanmar without due consideration for their safety.

Nearly 700,000  Rohingya have fled Myanmar's Rakhine state and crossed into Bangladesh since last August, which attacks on  security posts by insurgents triggered a military crackdown that the-

United Nations has said amounts to ethnic cleansing, with reports of arson attacks, murder and rape.

Buddhist majority Myanmar denied the charge and says its security forces are fighting a legitimate campaign against ''terrorists'' it blames for the attacks on the security forces.

The vast majority of Rohingya who fled are in camps at Cox's Bazar on the southern tip of Bangladesh, but -

Several thousand who arrived in buffer zone along the border are now stuck.

[Agencies]