UN says around 18,000 Rohingyas have fled to Bangladesh

The UN's International Organisation for Migration said on Wednesday that around 18,000 Rohingyas have fled to Bangladesh from Myanmar in the last few days due to an outbreak of violence that has left over 100 people dead.

"So far 18,000 people entered Bangladesh since last Friday (...) This 18,000 is an estimated number," head of the IOM office in Bangladesh district of Cox's Bazar Sanjukta Sahany was quoted by Efe news as saying. "So far we have been able to absorb these people with life-saving support."

The influx of refugees comes despite Dhaka's reluctance to accept them and attempts by its security forces, deployed along the bank of the Naf River, which acts as a natural border between Bangladesh and Myanmar, to try to stop the members of the Muslim minority from entering.

Many Rohingyas have also died while trying to reach Bangladesh. "We recovered four bodies today (Wednesday) from the Naf River near Shah Parir Dwip," an official of the Border Guard Bangladesh said.

The fresh wave of violence affecting the Rohingyas has already claimed the lives of 110 people since August 25.

Fighting flared up again when the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army carried out a series of attacks against police posts and military bases in Rakhine in western Myanmar and the armed forces were ordered to respond.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees has asked Bangladesh to keep its borders open for Rohingyas, to whom it has given refuge for decades. More than a million Rohingyas live in Rakhine, where they face growing discrimination due to sectarian conflict.

--IANS

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