21,000 Rohingyas Flee to Bangladesh from Myanmar
Local Editor
Around 21,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh in recent weeks to escape violence in neighboring Myanmar, an official of the International Organization for Migration said Tuesday.
Bangladesh has stepped up patrols on the border to try to stem the tide of refugees fleeing a bloody crackdown by Myanmar's army in the western state of Rakhine since early October.
But Sanjukta Sahany, head of the IOM office in Bangladesh's southeastern district of Cox's Bazar bordering Rakhine, said around 21,000 members of the stateless ethnic minority had crossed over in the past two months.
The vast majority of those who arrived took refuge in makeshift settlements, official refugee camps and villages, said Sahany.
"An estimated 21,000 Rohingya have arrived in Cox's Bazar district between October 9 and December 2," she told AFP by phone.
"It is based on the figures collected by UN agencies and international NGOs".
Those interviewed by AFP inside Bangladesh told horrifying stories of gang-rape, torture and murder at the hands of Myanmar's security forces.
Analysis of satellite images by Human Rights Watch found hundreds of buildings in Rohingya villages have been razed.
Myanmar has denied allegations of abuse but has banned foreign journalists and independent investigators from accessing the area.
Myanmar's Nobel "peace laureate" and de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi has faced a growing international backlash for what a UN official has said amounts to a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya, a Muslim group loathed by many of Myanmar's Buddhist majority.
Last week she vowed to work for "peace and national reconciliation", saying her country faced many challenges, but did not mention the violence in Rakhine state.
Bangladesh has reinforced its border posts and deployed coastguard ships to try to prevent a fresh influx of refugees.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team
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