More Rohingya flee to Bangladesh amid ethnic cleansing in Myanmar
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AA) – Internally displaced Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar’s Rakhine state have fled to Bangladesh in a new wave of forced migration in search of safety, refuge, and food as clashes between military junta forces and rebel groups escalate.
Many have crossed into the Rohingya refugee camp in southeastern Cox’s Bazar, where 1.2 million Muslims from Myanmar have already been staying.
Mohammad Nur Hashem, a Rohingya Majhi, or community leader, in the Cox’s Bazar Rohingya camp, said that “hundreds of Rohingya have gathered along the Bangladesh border in southeastern Bandarban and Transboundary Naf River.”
“We confirm that some Rohingya have taken refuge in the Kutupalong and Balukhali camps in Cox’s Bazar through illegal border crossing. The dire situation in Myanmar forced the new influx,” said Hashem.
UN human rights chief Volker Turk also said last week that the ongoing armed conflict between Myanmar’s junta and opposition armed groups had a significant impact on the already suffering Rohingya community.
Hashem said, “Over a hundred Rohingya already reached different camps in Cox’s Bazar in the last two months.”
Mohammed Rezuwan Khan, who lost contact with his sibling in Rakhine state, reported that “some of his relatives in Rakhine have internally been displaced as junta military conducted drive mostly in Muslim villages.”
The new reports of Rohingya, as well as Burmese security personnel fleeing Myanmar, come as at least three ethnic armed groups, known as the Brotherhood Alliance, have been fighting the junta regime for control of northern Myanmar since late October.
Many people have been killed.
Since February 2021, opposition armed groups have attacked junta forces that rule the Buddhist-majority Southeast Asian nation in ethnic clashes centered primarily in northern Myanmar, including Shan and Rakhine states.
They have captured many towns and outposts.
In mid-January, China brokered a cease-fire between warring parties and the ruling military junta.
The Rohingya Muslim community of Myanmar has been described as the “most persecuted minority” by the UN.
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