Rohingya flee refugee camp gang warfare
THOUSANDS of Rohingya have been forced to flee in recent days after gang warfare broke out in the world’s largest refugee camp in southern Bangladesh, killing at least eight people and terrifying residents with sporadic gunfire, arson and abductions.
Authorities arrested 12 people and dispatched hundreds of armed military and police officers to the camp of more than a million people near the coastal town of Cox’s Bazar to try to contain clashes between rival gangs fighting for control of a cross-border methamphetamine trade.
Refugees, already traumatised by their flight from ethnic cleansing in neighbouring Myanmar in 2017, are once again being displaced and living in fear. It also prompted concerns that efforts to curb the spread of Covid-19 in the squalid camps could be hampered.
Rahima Begum, a mother of two, said she was forced, along with hundreds of others, to escape the “Kutupalong” section of the camp, where the violence is concentrated. “Every night we heard the sound of gunfire. Night-time was hell for us I saw people running with long knives, long sticks,” she told The Daily Telegraph.
“We’ve never seen this kind of clash before,” said Mohammad Abul Kalam, another camp resident. “Recently we’ve felt very insecure even during daylight.”
Refugees have claimed the fighting groups are the “Munna” gang, named after a drug baron, and the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army – an armed group with a presence in the camp. Attacks by ARSA on police posts in Myanmar in 2017 prompted a military crackdown that led more than 730,000 Rohingya fleeing to Bangladesh.
In a Twitter post, ARSA denied responsibility and blamed criminals seeking to cast aspersions on the group.
Amnesty International said around a dozen shelters in the Kutupalong refugee camp were burned to the ground.
“The situation inside the camps is highly precarious and, unless the authorities take the necessary action to quell the violence and protect refugees, there’s a serious risk of further bloodshed,” said Saad Hammadi, the Amnesty International’s South Asia campaigner.