Rohingyas flee crackdown in Myanmar in thousands
A government crackdown in Myanmar has forced nearly 19,000 members of Myanmar’s minority Rohingya Muslim community to flee to neighboring Bangladesh in less than a week.
“As of last night, 18,500 people have come across” from Myanmar’s Rakhine State, where they mainly reside, said Chris Lom, the International Organization for Migration’s Asia-Pacific spokesman, on Wednesday.
Lom suggested that the number could be significantly higher as many of the displaced people might not have registered with Bangladeshi authorities.
“We also know there are people stuck at the border, but we do not know how many,” he said.
The roughly one-million-strong Rohingya community, which the Myanmarese government brands as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, has been suffering widespread and systematic aggression for years on end.
Buddhist extremists have been waging communal violence in Rakhine since 2012. Hundreds of people have been killed and tens of thousands forced from their homes as a result.
In addition, Rakhine has been under a military lockdown, which came with a “counterinsurgency” push since an alleged attack on the country’s border guards on October 9 last year. Nine police officers were killed in that attack, which the government blamed on armed Rohingyas.
At least 110 people have been killed in a fresh bout of violence that has gripped the region since six days ago. The government has put the blame for the killings on “militants” in an attempt to justify its heavy-handed security response.
Read more:
The United Nations believes that the Myanmarese government might have committed ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity in its crackdown on the Rohingya.
Bangladesh currently hosts some 400,000 of the uprooted people.
New Zealand: Maori MPs protest in parliament with Haka war dance
Malaysia working on resolution to expel Israel from United Nations
Ambassador: Japan studying recognition of State of Palestine
Trump’s ‘Make America Great Again’ shows US debilitated, desperate: Fmr. IRGC chief
Jordan rage: Protesters blast Israel’s genocide in Gaza, carnage in Lebanon
Pentagon official says ‘shocked’ by Yemen’s firepower, arsenal
IAEA chief tours two key Iranian nuclear facilities
Larijani asserts Iran’s support for resistance, says conveyed Leader’s message to Lebanon
VIDEO | Beirut’s southern suburbs targeted in 'heavy' Israeli strikes
Haaretz: Over 10,000 Israelis have migrated to Canada this year
VIDEO | Press TV's news headlines
PressTV NEWSLETTER
now
This makes it easy to access the Press TV website
