A top Myanmar official said Wednesday that his country would take back a first group of 2,000 Rohingya refugees from camps in Bangladesh in November despite widespread doubts over the proposal. Officials from the two countries announced on Tuesday that some of the 720,000 Muslim Rohingya who fled a deadly military clampdown in the Buddhist-majority country last year would start returning next month.

Myanmar foreign secretary Myint Thu visited the camps in Cox's Bazar on Wednesday to discuss the repatriations with refugees. Most repeated demands that they be given Myanmar nationality with full rights before they return. Thu said Myanmar has verified 5,000 names on a list of 8,032 Rohingya that Bangladesh authorities sent in February.