Forgotten in Myanmar, 129,000 Rohingya languish in camps

Abdurahim worries the lack of food, medicine and free movement is doing lasting damage to his four young children, who are among more than 129,000 Rohingya Muslims trapped in squalid camps inside Myanmar's Rakhine state.

In the grimy, rubbish-strewn alleyways of Thet Kel Pyin camp, near the state capital Sittwe, children gather around a slaughtered cow, a rare chance to eat meat on the second day of the Eid al-Adha festival.

Most of the camp's residents were forced from their homes in 2012, victims of ethnic and religious hatreds that have simmered for decades.

Cut off from outside contact, their plight is rarely reported.

Abdurahim, 46, fears that everyday life in the camp -- split communities, restricted movement for the Rohingya and dependency on relief handouts -- will shape his children forever.

Aged between eight and 17, their formative years have been spent in Thet Kel Pyin, where the family arrived six years ago.

"What kind of memory comes into their head? They think only one ethnicity lives like this," Abdurahim -- whose Myanmar name is Shwe Hla -- told AFP.

"Their vision is becoming like this."
"The rooms are so close to each other so... the health problem is getting bigger."