Bangladesh has boosted border safety after practically 18,000 Rohingya Muslims, fleeing violence of their native Myanmar, crossed over in latest months.
Officials in Dhaka mentioned the inflow of refugees from Myanmar, notably from the western Rakhine state, has mounted as combating escalated between the junta troops and the Arakan Army, a strong Buddhist-majority ethnic militia.
“Thousands of Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh and many are waiting to cross. The situation is dire,” mentioned a Foreign Ministry official, who requested to not be named as he was not approved to speak to the media.
The new arrivals add to greater than 1 million Rohingya refugees already dwelling in overcrowded camps in Cox’s Bazar district after they fled a military-led crackdown in Myanmar in 2017. They have little hope of returning to Myanmar, the place they’re largely denied citizenship and different primary rights.
Arrivals have greater than doubled from what the federal government estimated earlier this month, regardless of Bangladesh repeatedly saying it can’t settle for extra Rohingya refugees as sources are already stretched skinny.
“The vigilance at the border has increased, but managing our 271-kilometer (168 miles) border with Myanmar is challenging, especially without a security counterpart on the other side,” mentioned one other authorities official, who spoke on situation of anonymity.
The official mentioned many Rohingya have been determined and have been discovering methods to cross into Bangladesh.
The authorities was but to resolve on whether or not to register those that have entered lately and live in refugee camps, mentioned the Foreign Ministry official.
“If we decide to register them, it could open the floodgates and that’s something we can’t afford,” he mentioned. “But at the same time, how long can we ignore this issue? That’s the real question.”
The head of Bangladesh’s interim authorities Muhammad Yunus has referred to as for a fast-tracked third-country resettlement of Rohingya as a long-term resolution, however the overseas ministry official mentioned progress on resettlement has been restricted.
“Around 2,000 people have gone under the resettlement program since it resumed in 2022 after a gap of 12 years,” he mentioned, including that the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland have been among the many international locations taking in refugees.
Source: www.dailysabah.com