Rohingya holed up in a border “no man’s land” after fleeing Myanmar will only accept repatriation to their home villages, a local leader said on Sunday, rejecting any move to transit camps for fear of confinement.

Since August, several thousands of the Rohingya have been living in tents beyond a barbed-wire fence which roughly demarcates the border zone between the two countries.

Dil Mohamed, 51, a local Rohingya leader living in the ‘no-man’s land’, said the villagers — who number around 6,000 — would return to Myanmar only if they are guaranteed safety, compensation for the homes burned down and permission to resettle.

“We don’t want to go to the transit camps. We need to go directly to our homes,” he said, referring to sites set up by Myanmar authorities to process returning refugees.