DHAKA — Escalating violence in Myanmar's western Rakhine state in recent months may have spurred some Rohingya Muslims to cross into Bangladesh, a key refugee official said, although Dhaka insists it cannot accept more refugees from its war-torn neighbour.
Rohingya refugees cross a bamboo-made bridge during an ongoing heatwave in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, May 2, 2024.DHAKA — Escalating violence in Myanmar's western Rakhine state in recent months may have spurred some Rohingya Muslims to cross into Bangladesh, a key refugee official said, although Dhaka insists it cannot accept more refugees from its war-torn neighbour.
Mohammed Mizanur Rahman, the Bangladesh official tasked with refugee relief and repatriation, said his office had received reports of Rohingya crossing over to swell the figure of nearly a million housed in refugee camps in the Cox's Bazar area. Fighting has flared in Rakhine after a ceasefire between the Arakan Army , one of Myanmar's most powerful ethnic armies, and the ruling junta broke down late last year.The AA has captured nine key towns in the coastal province and pursued its offencive to take more territory, in a nationwide rebel onslaught that has left the junta at its weakest since taking power in a 2021 coup.
On Sunday, the AA warned residents of Maungdaw, a town west of Buthidaung that is home primarily to Rohingya, to leave ahead of a planned offencive on the settlement.But with exit routes blocked, several residents, a Rohingya leader and the United Nations human rights chief have said that Maungdaw residents have nowhere to flee.Rahman said he had received messages from Rohingya that the AA offencive could lead to more displacement in Maungdaw, which touches the border with Bangladesh.
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