COX’S BAZAR, Bangladesh (AFP) — Four UNICEF schools for Rohingya children in refugee camps in Bangladesh have been destroyed in a fire, officials said Tuesday, with the UN children’s agency calling it arson. It was unclear who might attack the schools, which were empty at the time, but the security situation in the camps housing around a million people has worsened in recent months. Last week a blaze thought to have been started by a […]
Tag: Rohingya
Giant blaze leaves thousands homeless in Bangladesh Rohingya camp
COX’S BAZAR, Bangladesh (AFP) — A huge fire tore through a Rohingya refugee camp on Thursday destroying more than 550 shanty homes, but while 3,500 people were left homeless no serious casualties were reported, aid agencies said. The blaze started when most people in the sprawling Nayapara camp were asleep. Tens of thousands of members of the Muslim minority who fled a military crackdown in neighboring Myanmar in 2017 live in the overcrowded camp. International […]
Myanmar vote ban extinguishes hope for ethnic minorities
by Su Myat MON Agence France Presse YANGON, Myanmar (AFP) — For many marginalised ethnic minority groups in conflict-plagued regions of Myanmar, next month’s national elections had at least offered a glimmer of hope for empowerment. But a decision to exclude swathes of their homelands from the vote — ostensibly over security concerns — has instead filled them with anger and despair, with nearly two million people now disenfranchised. Aung San Suu Kyi’s ruling […]
Stranded Rohingya pulled to shore by sympathetic Indonesians
LHOKSEUMAWE, Indonesia (AFP) — Nearly 100 Rohingya asylum seekers stranded off the coast of Indonesia were pulled to shore Thursday by locals angered at the refusal of authorities to give them shelter over coronavirus fears. Some 94 people from the persecuted Myanmar minority — including 30 children — were reportedly plucked from a rickety wooden boat by fishermen this week before being intercepted by maritime officials from Sumatra island who pulled them closer to shore. […]
First Rohingya refugee dies from coronavirus in Bangladesh: official
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AFP) — A 71-year-old man has become the first Rohingya living in vast refugee camps in Bangladesh to die from the coronavirus, an official said Tuesday. “He died on May 31. But last night we got the confirmation that he died of COVID-19,” said Toha Bhuiyan, a senior health official in the Cox’s Bazar district. The man, who lived in the Kutupalong camp, was among at least 29 Rohingya to have tested positive […]
Virus panic grips Rohingya camps in Bangladesh
by Suzauddin RUBEL with Sam JAHAN in Dhaka KUTUPALONG, Bangladesh (AFP) — The sewage-soaked alleys and cramped canvas and bamboo shacks that house one million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh are a horrifying scene for experts watching the coronavirus pandemic creep closer. The wretched conditions in the camps, where most of the stateless Muslims arrived in 2017 to escape a Myanmar military clampdown across the nearby border, are fertile ground for any disease. The public in […]
UN appeals for $877 million to help Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh
GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The United Nations on Tuesday appealed for nearly $900 million to help hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees and vulnerable host communities in Bangladesh this year. The UN refugee agency and the International Organization for Migration and other partners launched a joint appeal for $877 million (789 million euros). The money would go “to respond to the needs of approximately 855,000 Rohingya refugees from Myanmar and over 444,000 vulnerable Bangladeshis in […]
Top UN court orders Myanmar to prevent Rohingya genocide
by Danny KEMP Agence France Presse THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AFP) — The UN’s highest court ordered Myanmar on Thursday to do everything in its power to prevent the alleged genocide of Rohingya Muslims, as international justice stepped into the crisis for the first time. The International Court of Justice rejected arguments made by Myanmar’s civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi in The Hague in December and set out urgent steps for the majority Buddhist […]
Myanmar’s Suu Kyi denies ‘genocidal intent’ in Rohingya case
by Danny KEMP and Jan HENNOP Agence France Presse THE HAGUE Netherlands (AFP) — Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi on Wednesday denied “genocidal intent” as she defended Myanmar’s military operation against Rohingya Muslims in the UN’s top court. Addressing judges in The Hague, Myanmar’s civilian leader admitted that the army may have used “disproportionate force” but said that did not prove it was trying to wipe out the minority group. The African […]
Thousands in Myanmar rally behind Suu Kyi ahead of Hague court date
NAYPYIDAW, Myanmar (AFP) — Thousands rallied in support of Aung San Suu Kyi in Myanmar Saturday, on the eve of her departure for the UN’s top court to defend Myanmar against charges of genocide against Rohingya Muslims. The raucous rally in the capital Naypyidaw came as China’s foreign minister arrived for a visit at Suu Kyi’s invitation. Analysts say Beijing’s permanent seat on the UN Security Council — and its veto vote — makes it […]
ICC authorizes probe into alleged Myanmar Rohingya abuse
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AFP) — The International Criminal Court on Thursday approved a long-awaited full investigation into Myanmar’s alleged abuse of Rohingya Muslims, including crimes against humanity and persecution. The Hague-based war crimes court said in a statement it “authorized the prosecutor to proceed with an investigation for the alleged crimes within the ICC’s jurisdiction” relating to Myanmar. The probe will look at allegations of “systematic acts of violence”, deportation as a crime against humanity, […]
Deadly monsoon destroys 5,000 shelters in Bangladesh Rohingya camps
by Sam JAHAN BALUKHALI, Bangladesh (AFP) — At least 10 people have died and thousands of shanty homes have been destroyed by monsoon rains in overcrowded Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh’s southeast, officials said Sunday. Bangladesh’s meteorological department said the Cox’s Bazar district — home to nearly one million Rohingya Muslims who have fled a military crackdown in Myanmar — has seen at least 58.5 centimeters (nearly two feet) of rain since July 2. An […]
