Some 3,500 Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh have been cleared to return home to Myanmar beginning this week, nearly two years after a military crackdown sparked their exodus, according to officials.

More than 700,000 Rohingya fled to Bangladesh in August 2017 from a military offensive in Myanmar. They joined 200,000 already there, but virtually none have volunteered to return despite the countries signing a repatriation deal, AFP said.

Bangladesh refugee commissioner Mohammad Abul Kalam said he was “optimistic” about a new repatriation process scheduled to start on Thursday. Bangladesh and Myanmar officials plan to repatriate 300 Rohingya each day, Kalam added.

A previous attempt in November 2018 to return 2,260 Rohingya failed after they refused to leave the camp without guarantees for their safety.