Rohingya exodus from Myanmar hits 379,000
Rohingya Muslim refugees disembark from a boat on the Bangladeshi side of Naf river in Teknaf on September 12, 2017. PHOTO | MUNIR UZ ZAMAN | AFP
What you need to know:
Rohingya people have long been subjected to discrimination in Buddhist-dominated Myanmar, which denies them citizenship.
There were more than 300,000 Rohinya in refugee camps and makeshift settlements in Bangladesh even before the latest unrest.
COX'S BAZAR,
Some 379,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled Myanmar's troubled Rakhine state for Bangladesh since new violence erupted last month, the United Nations said Wednesday.
The figure has risen by 9,000 in 24 hours, according to UN refugee agency spokesman Joseph Tripura told AFP.
300,000
Bangladesh authorities are now registering new arrivals and building a massive new camp near the border with Myanmar to accommodate the influx.
"We've already started shifting thousands of people to this camp where we're building sheds for them," Ali Hossain, government administrator for Cox's Bazar district, told AFP.
Men prepare food for Rohingya refugees, who crossed the border from Myanamr, in the Bangladeshi city of Teknaf, on September 11, 2017. PHOTO | MUNIR UZ ZAMAN | AFP
Attacks by Rohingya militants on Myanmar security forces in Rakhine on August 25 sparked a harsh military crackdown on the minority Muslim community and the exodus started almost straight away.
Rohingya Muslim refugees carry an elderly relative as they arrive from Myanmar after crossing the Naf river in the Bangladeshi town of Teknaf on September 12, 2017. PHOTO | MUNIR UZ ZAMAN | AFP
Rohingya people have long been subjected to discrimination in Buddhist-dominated Myanmar, which denies them citizenship.
There were more than 300,000 Rohinya in refugee camps and makeshift settlements in Bangladesh even before the latest unrest.
In this photograph taken on September 11, 2017, Rohingya Muslim refugee children draw pictures at a safe house in Kutupalong refugee camp in the Bangladeshi town of Teknaf. PHOTO | MUNIR UZ ZAMAN | AFP
These are now completely overwhelmed and tens of thousands of new arrivals have no shelter.
Most walked for days to reach Bangladesh and aid workers say many are sick and in desperate need of food.
