COX’S BAZAR,
Bangladesh (Reuters) - Rohingya Muslims fleeing to Bangladesh from fighting in
Myanmar face the growing danger of sickness and attempts by the
Bangladesh
authorities to send them home despite a U.N. appeal that they be allowed to
stay.
A series of
coordinated attacks by Rohingya insurgents on Myanmar security forces on
Friday, in the north of Myanmar’s Rakhine State, has triggered a crackdown by
Myanmar forces that has sent a stream of Rohingya villagers fleeing to
Bangladesh.
It also
sparked a mass evacuation of thousands of Buddhist residents of the area.
At least 109
people have been killed in the clashes in Myanmar, most of them militants but
including members of the security forces and civilians.
Bangladesh,
which is already host to more than 400,000 Rohingya who have fled persecution
in Buddhist-majority Myanmar since the early 1990s, has said it will not accept
any more.
Bangladesh’s
border guards are trying to block the Rohingyas from crossing in, and aim to
round up and send back those who do.
Border guard
officials told Reuters they had sent back about 550 Rohingya since Monday, via
the Naf river that separates the two countries, despite an appeal by U.N.
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for Dhaka to allow Rohingya to seek safety.
An estimated
5,000 Rohingya have been able to cross into Bangladesh over the past few days,
most slipping in at night over the land border near the Bangladeshi village of
Gumdhum.
Many are
sick and at least six have died after crossing in, an aid worker said, adding
that fear of being caught and sent back meant some refused to seek help.
“What we’re
seeing is that many Rohingya people are sick,” said the worker with an
international agency in Bangladesh who declined to be identified or have his
agency identified.
“This is
because they got stuck in the border before they could enter. It’s mostly women
and children.”
“We’re
making all out efforts but a rapid response is needed,” the aid worker said.
“Some are refraining from getting treatment to avoid arrest.”
Thousands of
Rohingya are stranded in the no man’s land between the two countries, trying to
get into Bangladesh, aid workers and fellow Rohingya say.
AMBUSH
The Rohingya
are denied citizenship in Myanmar and classified as illegal immigrants, despite
claiming roots there that go back centuries. They are marginalized and their
communities occasionally subjected to communal violence.
A Rohingya
militant group called the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, which Myanmar has
declared a terrorist organization, claimed responsibility for the Friday
attacks. It was also behind a similar though smaller series of attacks in
October, which also triggered a tough Myanmar army response.
In a video
posted online on Monday, ARSA leader Ata Ullah warned Myanmar against
“oppressing” Rohingya and vowed to keep fighting to protect the community.
The
treatment of about 1.1 million Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar has become the
biggest challenge for national leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been accused by
Western critics of not speaking out on behalf of the long-persecuted minority.
Myanmar said
late on Monday that a total of 45 insurgent bombs went off on Sunday and
Monday. It also blamed the insurgents for torching seven villages, one outpost,
and two parts of Maungdaw town.
Attackers
ambushed security forces with small arms and machetes on Monday, and one
policeman and one civilian were wounded, the government said in a statement.
Satellite
imagery analysed by New York-based Human Rights Watch showed widespread
burnings in at least 10 areas in northern Rakhine State since the Aug. 25
militant raids, the group said in a statement.
"This
new satellite data should cause concern and prompt action by donors and UN
agencies to urge the Burmese government to reveal the extent of ongoing
destruction in Rakhine State," said Phil Robertson, the group's deputy
Asia director.
"Shuffling
all the blame on insurgents doesn't spare the Burmese government from its
international obligations to stop abuses and investigate alleged
violations."
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