Tragedy Lingers As Rohingya Muslims Flee Myanmar Crackdown: Over 18,000 Rohingya Muslims Fled Violence
20 August 2017Stuck between the
brutal crackdown by the Myanmar army and a closed border with Bangladesh, the
ethnic Rohingya Muslims' chance of survival is slim. Since Friday, "thousands
of Muslims were killed" according to the European Rohingya Council as security
forces launched operations against what they called a series of attacks by
Rohingya "insurgents" in the north of the country's Rakhine State, home to the
ethnic group in Buddhist-majority Myanmar.
Bangladesh, home to more than 400,000 Rohingya Muslims who fled the systematic
persecution in Myanmar, turned down appeals to open the borders.
Bangladeshi border guard officials told Reuters they had sent back about 550
Rohingya since Monday, via the Naf river that separates the two countries.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on Dhaka to let
Rohingyas in. A senior border guard official speaking to AFP said around 6,000
Myanmar nationals have gathered on the border and were trying to enter the
country. Some 3,000 people managed to cross into the country according to
figures by a U.N. refugee agency.
The Bangladeshi official said the situation was "still volatile," noting heavy
gunfire by automatic weapons and smoke over burnt villages across the border.
Officials expect thousands more to arrive on the border from hills and forests
they have been hiding near the border. An 11-year-old Rohingya girl named
Marium was separated from her parents amid the turmoil. Stranded on the
border, the crying girl told AFP she was in the toilet when the guards drove
her parents away. "Where shall I find them now?" she wailed. Mohammad Ismail
had taken shelter from the rain under a plastic sheet erected by border guards
just inside Bangladeshi territory, but the shelter has since been torn down.
"The border guards let us take shelter here, but I don't know now what I will
do with my son," he told AFP, gesturing to the shivering boy. Speaking to
Anadolu Agency (AA), Anita Schug, spokeswoman for the European Rohingya
Council, said 2,000 to 3,000 Muslims died in Rakhine state between Friday and
Monday. She said thousands of others were injured in "a slow-burning
genocide." She said almost a thousand Muslims were killed on Sunday in
Saugpara village, Rathedaung alone. The region has seen simmering tension
between its Buddhist and Muslim populations since communal violence broke out
in 2012.
A security clampdown launched in October last year in Maungdaw, where Rohingya
form the majority, led to a U.N. report on human rights violations by security
forces that indicated crimes against humanity.
The U.N. documented mass gang rape, killings, including that of babies and
children, brutal beatings and disappearances.
Reuters reported that an estimated 5,000 Rohingya have been able to cross into
Bangladesh over the past few days, most slipping in at night over the land
border near the Bangladeshi village of Gumdhum. Many are sick and at least six
have died after crossing in, an aid worker said, adding that fear of being
caught and sent back meant some refused to seek help. "What we're seeing is
that many Rohingya people are sick," said the worker with an international
agency in Bangladesh who declined to be identified or have his agency
identified. "This is because they got stuck on the border before they could
enter. It's mostly women and children. "We're making all out efforts but a
rapid response is needed," the aid worker said. "Some are refraining from
getting treatment to avoid arrest." Rohingya Muslims, who trace their roots to
Myanmar centuries ago, are denied citizenship by Myanmar that defines them as
illegal immigrants. They are often subject to violence by Buddhist extremists.
Over 18,000 Rohingya Muslims fled violence in Myanmar last week, IOM says
About 18,000 Rohingya Muslims are estimated to have crossed into Bangladesh in
the last week, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on
Wednesday, seeking to escape the worst violence in Myanmar's northwest in at
least five years.
A series of coordinated attacks by Rohingya insurgents on security forces in
the north of Myanmar's Rakhine state on Friday and ensuing clashes triggered
the exodus, while the government evacuated thousands of Rakhine Buddhists.
The IOM said it was difficult to estimate the number of people stranded in the
no man's land at the border between the neighbors, but added there were
"hundreds and hundreds" of people stuck there.
The treatment of about 1.1 million Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar has become the
biggest challenge for leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been accused by Western
critics of not speaking out on behalf of a minority who have long complained
of persecution.
The Rohingya are denied citizenship in Myanmar and regarded as illegal
immigrants, despite claiming roots there that go back centuries.
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