Rohingya crisis ‘grave security risk’: ICG

YANGON: Prolonged displacement of Rohingya refugees in squalid Bangladeshi camps poses a “grave security risk”, conflict analysts International Crisis Group (ICG) warned yesterday, raising the spectre of militants recruiting among the displaced and launching attacks on Myanmar.

Raids by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) on Aug 25 sparked the vicious Myanmar army response which has forced more than 620,000 Rohingya to flee Rakhine state for Bangladesh.

ARSA “appears determined to regroup and remain relevant” and may draw on desperate Rohingya refugees languishing in camps for future operations, the ICG said in the report.

The group may “shift to cross-border attacks” using Bangladesh as a base for recruitment and training, the study said, cautioning the risk of an ever-deepening cycle of violence is all too real.

“Such attacks would have profoundly negative consequences”, straining Myanmar-Bangladesh relations and worsening contempt for the Rohingya “that would further diminish prospects of an eventual refugee return”.

In another serious looming risk, ICG warned that Rohingya’s plight has become a “cause celebre” with Al-Qaeda, Islamic State and other global militant groups calling for attacks on Myanmar.

Myanmar’s military has repeatedly used the terror threat to justify its campaign in northern Rakhine state.

ARSA, however, has said it is only fighting to protect Rohingya rights.

International pressure is ratcheting up on Myanmar. This week the UN rights chief said Myanmar’s crackdown showed possible “elements of genocide”. – AFP