Arakan News Agency
Authorities in Dhaka have demanded that Myanmar repatriate tens of thousands of Rohingya Muslims who crossed the border to escape what they say is persecution, and are now living illegally in Bangladesh.
Myanmar says it will accept a small fraction of the refugee population now in Bangladesh, but the Rohingya themselves say they are unwilling to go back to Myanmar’s Rakhine state. Refugee community leaders are appealing to “Rohingya-friendly” countries to take them in.
Ko Ko Linn, a Rohingya community leader in Bangladesh, told media that conditions in Myanmar had become unlivable, particularly in recent weeks, and “they do not want to return to this anti-Rohingya Myanmar.”
Linn, an executive member of the Arakan Rohingya National Organization, said, “The Myanmar government and the country’s Buddhist-majority society have turned extremely hostile against the Rohingya Muslims, turning the country into a hell for them.”
An Amnesty International report last month accused Myanmar security forces of being responsible for unlawful killings, multiple rapes and the burning down of houses and entire villages in a “campaign of violence against Rohingya people that may amount to crimes against humanity.”
Source : VOA
