Rohingya are being brought into southeastern Bangladesh by smugglers as fighting between ethnic rebel groups and junta-aligned forces worsens next-door in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, said officials and border crossers interviewed by BenarNews.
The United Nations refugee agency on Wednesday said conditions in Myanmar’s Rakhine state were not favorable for the safe return of 1,000 Rohingya from Bangladesh whom Myanmar wants to repatriate under a China-mediated program.
The May 14 order was revoked on May 19, frustrating members of the Rohingya community originally displaced from their homes in Sittwe’s Seyton Su Muslim
More than 500 residents of Thayattapin village of Kyauktaw township meanwhile also fled their homes after Myanmar soldiers and police showed up in their community to question civilians, said a villager who requested anonymity for security reasons
About 5,000 people who have fled their villages in Minbya township since July 27, when military units entered their communities, are now living in internally displaced persons (IDP) camps. Others are staying temporarily with relatives or have camped out in forests, they said