Burma claims refugee exodus now over
But Rohingya in Bangladesh point to video of refugees still attempting to cross border
BANGKOK— More Rohingya Muslims fleeing violence in Burma streamed toward the border Friday, despite assurances from Aung San Suu Kyi’s government that it was stopping the massive exodus of refugees to Bangladesh.
Avideo obtained by The Associated Press that villagers said was shot Thursday in Burma’s northern Rakhine state shows dozens of Rohingya attempting to swim across the currents of a muddy river, from where it is a more than 20-kilometre walk through jungles to the border. Many more people, from young children to old men, stand huddled with their belongings on the riverbank.
Burma has come under international criticism for failing to stop the violence, and in turn the tide of more than half a million Rohingya who have made the often perilous journey to Bangladesh since late August, the largest refugee crisis to hit Asia in decades. The Burma government’s information committee said in a statement late Thursday that it had stopped 17,000 Rohingya from fleeing in just four days last week.
“The (Burma) authorities in northern Rakhine went to the border areas where thousands of Bengalis await to flee and talked to them,” it said.
“The local authorities told the Bengalis if they have difficulties with their livelihood, they will provide food and security and to return to their villages. The Bengalis agreed to stay.”
Burma doesn’t recognize Rohingya as an ethnic group, instead insisting they are Bengali migrants from Bangladesh living illegally in the country. The government may have had some success in keeping Rohingya in Burma in recent days, but villagers say Rohingya are still attempting to leave and many are gathered on the beaches just across the water from Bangladesh waiting for a chance to leave the country.
Bangladesh, in particular, has been pushing Burma to stem the tide of refugees, who are straining resources in the already poor nation. The current exodus is in addition to hundreds of thousands of Rohingya who fled prior violence in Buddhist-majority Burma, where the Muslim ethnic group has faced decades of persecution and discrimination.
In a statement Friday, Amnesty International said Burma’s security forces have engaged in an unlawful and disproportionate campaign of violence against the Rohingya. Also Friday, the Norwegian Refugee Council called on Burma authorities to allow aid groups access to those in need in northern Rakhine state.
“Humanitarians must have access to help these people without one more minute of delay,” Jan Egeland, the group’s secretary-general, said in a statement.