Fresh influx of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh
Hungry, destitute and scared, thousands of new Rohingya refugees crossed the border into Bangladesh from Myanmar early on Monday, Reuters witnesses said, fleeing attacks by Buddhist mobs and hunger that the United Nations has called ethnic cleansing.
Wading through waste-deep water with children strapped to their sides, the Rohingya said they walked through bushes and forded streams for days from Myanmar’s Buthidaung region before reaching the border.
A seemingly never-ending line entered Bangladesh near the village of Palongkhali. Many were injured, with the elderly on makeshift stretchers, and women balanced family belongings.
They walked to join some 536,000 Rohingya Muslims who have fled Myanmar since Aug. 25, when coordinated Rohingya insurgent attacks sparked a ferocious military response, with the fleeing people accusing security forces of arson, killings and rape.
Myanmar rejects accusations of ethnic cleansing and has labelled the militants from the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army who launched the initial attacks as terrorists who killed civilians and burnt villages.
The refugees who arrived in Bangladesh on Monday said they were driven out by hunger because food markets in Myanmar’s
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western Rakhine state have been shut down and aid deliveries restricted. They also reported attacks by the military and Rakhine Buddhist mobs.
Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya had already been in Bangladesh after fleeing previous spasms of violence in Myanmar, where they have long been denied citizenship and faced restrictions on their movements and access to basic services.
Myanmar’s de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, has pledged accountability for human rights abuses and says the country will accept back refugees who can prove they were residents of the country.
The US and the EU have been considering targeted sanctions against Myanmar’s military, diplomats and officials said, although they are wary of action that could destabilize the country’s transition to democracy.
EU foreign ministers were scheduled to discuss Myanmar on Monday, and their draft joint statement said the bloc “will suspend invitations to the commander-in-chief of the Myanmar/ Burma armed forces and other senior military officers”.
ROHINGYA BOAT SINKS, AT LEAST 5 KILLED
At least five people were killed and dozens missing on Monday after a boat packed with Rohingya refugees sank in a river that separates the two nations, a border guard official said.
Nearly 200 people have died in around a dozen boats sinkings since the Rohingya influx began in late August.