‘ Over 2,500 migrants still adrift’
Dhaka plans to relocate Rohingyas to an island
Bangkok/ Yangon/ Wang Kelian ( Malaysia), May 27: More than 2,500 migrants could still be stranded on boats in the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea, according to estimates by the United Nations, as Thailand prepares to host a regional meeting it said was focused on “immediate action” to tackle the crisis.
Thousands of Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar and migrants from Bangladesh have tried to land in Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia since a Thai crackdown on people smugglers in early May led to trafficker crews abandoning them at sea.
Regional governments have struggled to respond, although images of desperate people crammed aboard overloaded boats with little food or water prompted Indonesia and Malaysia to soften their initial reluctance to allow the migrants to come ashore.
More than seven boats carrying around 2,600 people are thought to be still at sea, according to data from UNHCR and the International Organisation for Migration ( IOM) sources.
Friday’s meeting in Bangkok will bring together 17 countries from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and elsewhere in Asia, along with the United States, Switzerland and international organisations.
“The meeting focuses on immediate actions to tackle the issue,” said Panote Preechyanud at the department of information at the Thai ministry of foreign affairs on Wednesday.
“It is an urgent call for the region to comprehensively work together to address the unprecedented increase of irregular migration across the Bay of Bengal in recent years.”
The gathering takes place against the grim backdrop of Malaysia’s discovery of nearly 140 shallow graves at 28 suspected people smuggling camps strung along its northern border, some of which authorities believe were abandoned in haste when the Thai crackdown began.
Meanwhile, several hundred Buddhist nationalists protested in Yangon Wednesday against mounting international pressure for Myanmar to stem the exodus of Muslim Rohingya migrants and aid those still stranded at sea.
Demonstrators, including Buddhist monks, shouted “Don’t insult our country!” and “There are no Rohingya in Myanmar” in angry chants aimed mainly at the United Nations.
Malaysia’s government has expressed shock at finding human- trafficking camps and graves near the Thai border, but for local villagers like Sani Hashim the human clues were right there in plain sight.
Sani is one of many residents of the remote area in Perlis state who say that starving illegal migrants — some bearing signs of mistreatment — have for years staggered from nearby thickly jungled hills, where a network of graves and camps was recently found. — Reuters, AFP Dhaka, May 27: Bangladesh plans to relocate thousands of Rohingya who have spent years in refugee camps near the Myanmar border to a southern island, an official said Wednesday.
The government has started planning the relocation to Hatiya island in the Bay of Bengal, a move backed by Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the head of the government’s Myanmar Refugee Cell Amit Kumar Baul said. “The relocation of the Rohingya camps will definitely take place. So far informal steps have been taken according to the PM’s directives,” Mr Baul told AFP. Bangladesh is home to 32,000 registered Rohingya refugees who are sheltering in two camps in the south- eastern district of Cox’s Bazar which borders Myanmar.
A Rohingya leader said the move would only make life worse for the refugees, many of whom have been languishing in the camps for years. Mr Baul said the move was partly prompted by concerns the camps were holding back tourism in Cox’s Bazar.