Tensions high as Rohingya fear looming return to Myanmar

COX’S BAZAR, Bangladesh: The military’s presence at vast Rohingya camps in Bangladesh has been bolstered, stoking fears among refugees as authorities prepare to return them to Myanmar despite strong UN objections, leaders of the Muslim minority said on Wednesday.

Bangladesh says it will start repatriating refugees from an initial group of 2,260 from Thursday despite warnings the Rohingya face almost certain persecution in Myanmar.

Many of the million refugees in the teeming camps have expressed terror at the prospect of returning to Buddhist majority Myanmar, where UN investigators say they were targeted in a military campaign that amounted to genocide.

Bangladesh says only those who volunteer will be returned, but the UN rights chief says many refugees are panicking at the prospect of being sent back against their will.

Some families listed to return have fled, community leaders and refugees have said, hiding in the hills where more than 720,000 Rohingya sought refuge from a Myanmar military crackdown launched from August last year.

They joined some 300,000 Rohingya already living in squalid camps in Bangladesh’s southeast for years, having fled previous waves of violence in Rakhine state.

Additional police and soldiers were seen patrolling the camps and checking identity cards, stoking anxiety as the deadline for repatriation looms, refugee leaders said. — AFP