Tag: Rohingya

15 dead in Rohingya boat sinking as UN chief tells Myanmar to end ‘nightmare’

by Sam Jahan with Philippe Rater at the United Nations Agence France Presse COX’S BAZAR, Bangladesh (AFP) — At least 15 people drowned and scores are feared missing after a boat carrying Rohingya families capsized off Bangladesh Thursday, as United Nations chief Antonio Guterres exhorted Myanmar’s rulers to end the refugees’ “nightmare.” Witnesses and survivors said the vessel overturned just meters from the coast in rough waters, after it was lashed by torrential rain and […]

Rohingya militants deny Myanmar army claims of Hindu massacre

MAUNGDAW, Myanmar  (AFP) – Rohingya militants on Wednesday denied the Myanmar army’s allegations that they had massacred scores of Hindu villagers, whose bodies soldiers displayed to the press after exhuming them from mass graves in northern Rakhine state. Major clashes between the army and the Muslim insurgents erupted last month, triggering a dire refugee crisis with nearly half a million Rohingya fleeing across the border to Bangladesh. An information war has followed, as Myanmar’s government pushes back against […]

UN plans food aid for up to 700,000 Rohingya

   COX’S BAZAR, Bangladesh (AFP) — The United Nations has drawn up a contingency plan to feed up to 700,000 Muslim Rohingya refugees from Myanmar after some 480,000 fled to Bangladesh over the past month and arrivals continue. A senior official from the UN’s World Food Program (WFP) told AFP they were now prepared to provide massive food and other emergency aid if the influx continues in coming weeks. “All the UN agencies together have now set a […]

Bangladesh says Rohingya influx grinds to a halt

by Sam Jahan in Cox’s Bazar and Shafiqul Alam in Dhaka</strong> Agence France Presse COX’S BAZAR, Bangladesh — The flood of Rohingya refugees into Bangladesh has come to a virtual halt, Dhaka officials said Saturday, almost a month after violence erupted in Myanmar’s Rakhine State and sent nearly 430,000 people fleeing across the border. Officials gave no reason for the dramatically reduced numbers. But Rohingya Muslim leaders said it could be because villages located near […]

Rohingya crisis sparks fear among Bangladeshi Buddhists

by Claire Cozens Agence France-Presse RAMU, Bangladesh (AFP) – As thousands of Rohingya flee ethnic violence in Myanmar, Bangladesh’s small Buddhist community fears the crisis could spark a violent backlash from their Muslim neighbours. Many Bangladeshis are angry over the treatment in Buddhist-majority Myanmar of the Rohingya, a persecuted stateless minority who they see as Muslim brethren. The anger is particularly acute in the southern district of Cox’s Bazar near the border with Myanmar, where many people have […]

Western powers warn Suu Kyi on Rohingya before speech

UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) — Britain led world powers Monday in warning Myanmar of potential action if leader Aung San Suu Kyi does not move to end a campaign against the Rohingya minority. Hours before Suu Kyi delivers a national address Tuesday, British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson called a meeting on the crisis on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Johnson, at the meeting attended by US Ambassador to […]

Rain and evictions add to Rohingya misery

by Dominique Faget and Redwan Ahmed Agence France Presse UKHIA, Bangladesh (AFP) — Heavy monsoon rain heaped new misery Sunday on hundreds of thousands of Muslim Rohinyga stuck in makeshift camps in Bangladesh after fleeing violence in Myanmar, as authorities started a drive to force them to a new site. With food and water shortages already making life tough, torrential rain brought back swamp-like conditions to many parts of the border town of Cox’s Bazar […]

Empty villages, Rohingya on the run: Who is left in Myanmar’s Rakhine?

  YANGON, Myanmar (AFP) — A military campaign to wipe out Rohingya insurgents has rained violence down on Myanmar’s Rakhine state, sending nearly 390,000 Muslim Rohingya refugees fleeing for sanctuary in Bangladesh. Around 30,000 Rakhine Buddhists and Hindus have also been displaced, as ethnic and religious hatreds carve through the western state. Access to the epicentre of unrest — the northern wedge of Rakhine — has been blocked by the government as the crisis unfolds. […]

Myanmar’s Suu Kyi to address nation on Rakhine crisis next week: spokesman

YANGON, Myanmar (AFP) — Myanmar’s leader Aung San Suu Kyi will address the crisis engulfing Rakhine state next week, in her first speech since scores were killed in violence that has sent nearly 380,000 Rohingya Muslims fleeing to Bangladesh. In a press conference government spokesman Zaw Htay said Suu Kyi will “speak for national reconciliation and peace” in a televised address on September 19. He said the Nobel laureate, who has been pilloried by rights groups […]

Rohingya refugee crisis continues in Bangladesh

COX’S BAZAR, Bangladesh (Reuters) — Rohingya refugees continued to arrive in Bangladesh from Myanmar on Sunday (September 10) putting more pressure on the relief effort to keep them fed and sheltered. Nearly 300,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh and 30,000 non-Muslim civilians have been displaced inside Myanmar after the military launched a counter-offensive following attacks by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) insurgents on 30 police posts and an army base on August 25. The […]

Suu Kyi and Myanmar face chorus of anger over Rohingya crisis

  YANGON, Myanmar (AFP) — Nobel peace laureate Malala Yousafzai and Muslim countries in Asia led a growing chorus of criticism on Monday aimed at Myanmar and its civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi over the plight of its Rohingya Muslim minority. Nearly 90,000 Rohingya have flooded into Bangladesh in the past 10 days following an uptick in fighting between militants and Myanmar’s military in strife-torn western Rakhine state. The impoverished region bordering Bangladesh has […]

17 Rohingya, including children, drown fleeing Myanmar

COX’S BAZAR, Bangladesh (AFP) — Bangladesh coastguards on Thursday found the bodies of 17 Rohingya, many of them children, who drowned when their boats capsized as they fled violence in Myanmar that has forced at least 18,500 to seek refuge across the border. Officials in Bangladesh say growing numbers of Rohingya are trying to cross the Naf river that divides the two countries in rickety boats that are ill-equipped for the rough waters as they […]