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Over 2,000 Rohingyas Fleeing Violence Forced out of Bangladesh | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Images of Rohingya migrants stranded at sea last year briefly captured the world’s attention, AFP


Over 2,000 Rohingyas Fleeing Violence Forced out of Bangladesh

by | Sep 4, 2017 | World |

Over 2,000 Rohingyas Fleeing Violence Forced out of Bangladesh

A staggering 2,000 Rohingya refugees were driven out of a remote island in Bangladesh where they sought refuge from Myanmar violence, officials said Monday.

The vast majority have entered overland or by crossing the Naf border river. But as desperation grows, some are braving the open seas to reach the small island of St Martin’s nine kilometers off Bangladesh’s coast.

The United Nations says 87,000 mostly Rohingya refugees have poured over the border into Bangladesh since the latest round of fighting broke out 10 days ago in Myanmar’s neighboring Rakhine state.

According to Reuters, officials said the island’s 9,000 residents, who share close cultural ties with the Rohingya and speak a similar language, had been hiding around 2,000 recent arrivals but were ordered to give them up.

The Rohingya are a mainly Muslim stateless ethnic minority who according to rights groups have faced decades of persecution in mainly Buddhist Myanmar.

The head of the local council Noor Ahmad said mosque loudspeakers were used to ask residents to hand Rohingya arrivals over to the coast guard.

“They told us to help find the Rohingya by any means and bring them to the coast guard camp,” said Ahmad.

Another elected official, Farid Ahmed, said 2,011 Rohingya including children were rounded up at the coast guard headquarters on Sunday evening and taken away.

“Rohingya children were crying. But it is the government order. What can we do?” Ahmed told AFP.

“They (Rohingya) said, where should we go? They (Myanmar forces) were killing us there. Our houses were burnt. They were firing at us.”

Both men said the Rohingya had been taken back to Myanmar on boats.

One senior security official who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity said the Rohingya were taken back at night under escort from border security forces.

Bangladesh coast guards have intercepted and turned away hundreds more refugees as they tried to approach the island, the official said.

Bangladesh was already home to around 400,000 Rohingya before the current crisis and has made clear it does not want to take in more.