The military coup in Myanmar has drawn condemnation from Rohingya refugees living in camps in Bangladesh. Many of them are now more fearful to return to their homeland, but some remain hopeful.
A Rohingya man at the Nayapara refugee camp in Cox's BazarImage: Mohammed Arakani/REUTERS
Advertisement
In the world's largest refugee camp in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar district, Aung San Suu Kyi has always been a hot topic. The most famous Myanmar leader, who was recently arrested by the nation's military after it ousted the civilian government in a coup, has never addressed the community as her people.
In fact, about 750,000 Rohingya Muslims had to flee to neighboring Bangladesh in 2017 when Myanmar's military launched a counterinsurgency operation, involving mass rape, murders and the torching of villages. Suu Kyi, who served as state counselor from 2016 until her ouster this week, failed to condemn the military operation, which was described by the United Nations as a "textbook example of ethnic cleansing."
In 2019, when The Gambia lodged a lawsuit against Myanmar before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) seeking to prevent a genocide of the Rohingya minority, Suu Kyi personally appeared at The Hague-based court and rejected the genocide claims, warning the UN judges that allowing the case to go ahead risked reigniting the crisis and could "undermine reconciliation."
Aung San Suu Kyi: From freedom fighter to pariah
Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi had the global community rooting for her when she was the world's most famous political prisoner. But in recent years she was accused of standing by while soldiers massacred Rohingya Muslims.
Image: Reuters
Darling of democracy
Aung San Suu Kyi, the daughter of Myanmar's assassinated founding father Aung San, returned to her home country in the late 1980s after studying and starting a family in England. She became a key figure in the 1988 uprisings against the country's military dictatorship. Her National League for Democracy (NLD) was victorious in 1990 elections, but the government refused to honor the vote.
Image: dapd
Military rule
Suu Kyi spent 15 of the 21 years between 1989 and 2010 under house arrest. After 1995, the rights advocate was barred from seeing her two sons and husband, Michael Aris, even after the latter was diagnosed with cancer. Aris, seen here displaying an honorary doctorate awarded to his wife, died in 1999.
Image: TORSTEN BLACKWOOD/AFP
'The Lady'
Suu Kyi's determination to bring democracy and human rights to her country won her international renown, including the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize. She was so popular that in 2011 famous French director Luc Besson made a biopic of her life starring Malaysian actor Michelle Yeoh. Suu Kyi was often called the world's most famous political prisoner.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/Seven Media/Doha Film Institute
Sworn in as lawmaker
Decades of campaigning finally paid off, and in 2012 Suu Kyi was allowed to run in free elections. She won a seat in parliament as Myanmar began its transition away from military government. After general elections in 2015, she became the country's de facto civilian leader, although officially she held the post of foreign minister and state counselor — a role akin to prime minister.
Image: AP
Persecution of the Rohingya
Rohingya, a mostly Muslim ethnic group, had their citizenship revoked by Myanmar's Buddhist-majority government in 1982. Long persecuted, their plight intensified in 2016 when Myanmar's military began what it called "clearance" of illegal immigrants. Groups such as Human Rights Watch have described it as "ethnic cleansing." Thousands have died, and hundreds of thousands have fled their homes.
Image: Reuters/D. Siddiqui
Fall from grace
When she became state counselor in 2016, Suu Kyi set up a commission to investigate claims of atrocities against the Rohingya in Rakhine state. Suu Kyi accused the Rohingya of spreading "a huge iceberg of misinformation," and said she was concerned by the "terrorist threat" posed by extremists. Her stance sparked protests in Muslim-majority countries around the world.
Image: picture-alliance/Zumapress/J. Laghari
Nobel no more?
Due to her handling of the Rohingya crisis, Suu Kyi was stripped of various honors and lost much of her international support. The Nobel committee was forced to issue a statement saying that her peace prize could not be revoked. Fellow Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai called on Suu Kyi to "stop the violence." Suu Kyi said that outsiders could not grasp the complexities of the situation.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
A controversial election
In 2020, Myanmar's ruling National League for Democracy party won the November 8 general election, with enough seats to form the next government. However, the military's proxy party, the Union Solidarity and Development party, claimed fraud and demanded a new election supervised by the military. With that came comments alluding to a possible coup. Supporters of the party also marched in protest.
Image: Shwe Paw Mya Tin/REUTERS
Military detains Suu Kyi
Myanmar's civilian leader, along with several of her political allies, were detained in an early morning raid on February 1, 2021 led by the military. The move came amid escalating tensions between the civilian government and army, which had been in control for decades.The junta claimed electoral fraud, announced a yearlong state of emergency and named a former general as acting president.
Image: Franck Robichon/REUTERS
9 images1 | 9
A blow to repatriation efforts?
Now that the military is in complete control of Myanmar after the coup, Rohingya refugees said they are even more afraid. Abdul Jabbar, a Rohingya living in the overcrowded camp, told DW that the coup and Suu Kyi's arrest could make it more challenging for people like him to return home.
Advertisement
"Suu Kyi's recent remarks concerning us sounded softer than in the past. But, as she has been arrested now, I think our return home will be delayed even further," the 80-year-old refugee told DW, adding: "Myanmar's military doesn't want to take us back."
Mostofa Kamal, a Rohingya leader at the camp, voiced a similar opinion. He sees a connection between the coup and the recent Rohingya repatriation deal between Myanmar and Bangladesh.
Officials from both countries met last month to discuss ways to start the repatriations, with Bangladesh's Foreign Ministry seeming more hopeful of success, and officials saying they expect to begin sometime in June.
"The military coup has taken place at a time when both Bangladesh and Myanmar agreed to start the repatriation. I think the military has taken it into consideration and made the country politically unstable to stop it," he told DW. "As Myanmar's situation is volatile now, no one will talk about sending us back there," he stressed.
Most of the 1 million or so Rohingya in Bangladesh now live in five camps that cover an area equivalent to a third of Manhattan. Over 700,000 live in the world's largest and most densely populated refugee camp, Kutupalong, an area of just 13 square kilometers.
About half of the refugees are children, and there are more women in the camps than men. Most of them live in shelters made of bamboo and plastic sheets, and they are not allowed to work and cannot leave the camps without the permission of the government.
In the past, some refugees managed to return to Myanmar. But recent attempts at repatriation under a joint agreement proved unsuccessful as the Rohingya refused to go, fearing violence in a country that doesn't recognize them as citizens and denies fundamental rights.
Inside Bangladesh's isolated 'Rohingya island'
Bangladesh has invested $272 million (€248 million) to make the Bhasan Char island liveable for the Rohingya. But the refugees, currently camped in Cox's Bazar district, are reluctant to move to the cyclone-prone island.
Image: DW/A. Islam
Far from the mainland
Bhasan Char, which means "floating island" in Bengali language, emerged less than 20 years ago in the Bay of Bengal. The island is located 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) away from mainland Bangladesh. The government of the Muslim-majority country plans to relocate some 100,000 Rohingya refugees to this island from overcrowded Cox's Bazar refugee camps.
Image: DW/A. Islam
No easy transportation
There is no proper transport for the common people to go to the island. Some people told DW that the roughness of the sea makes it difficult to reach the island on boats during the monsoon season.
Image: DW/A. Islam
Protected by embankment?
The government has erected a 13-kilometer-long and 3-meter-high embankment to protect the island from high tides and floods. Still, the outer part of the embankment goes 3 to 4 feet underwater twice a month during high tides, according to the island's shopkeepers.
Image: DW/A. Islam
Identical buildings
The government has built 1,440 single-storey buildings, with 16 rooms in each, to house the Rohingya refugees. At least four members of a family have to live in a small room. 120 four-storey shelter houses are also available, to be used during cyclones.
Image: DW/N. Conrad
Solar power for energy
All buildings at Bhasan Char are equipped with solar panels to fulfil their energy demands. A big solar field and two diesel generators for electricity have also been installed. The island has a rainwater harvesting system as well as tube wells to provide drinking water.
Image: DW/A. Islam
Protection from erosion
The silt island is called a "floating island" due to its unstable nature. Satellite images detected the island in 2002. Bangladeshi authorities have built a structure with pylons, gravel and sandbags to stop the erosion of the island.
Image: DW/A. Islam
Is the island uninhabitable?
While some experts say the island is still very fragile and uninhabitable, climate change specialist Ainun Nishat is of the opinion that people can live here if the embankment is heightened to 6.5 to 7 meters. However, he doesn't think that farming is possible on the island.
Image: DW/A. Islam
Rohingya fear cyclone, drowning
The refugees fear they could die as a result of a cyclone if they are forcibly moved to the island. Many of their children could drown in the sea, they say.
Image: DW/A. Islam
Will Rohingya move there?
While the island is almost ready to host Rohingya refugees, the government has yet to make a decision on transferring them to it. Several sources say the relocation could take place in November. The Bangladeshi government has hinted it might have to force the refugees to go there if no one chooses to leave the Cox's Bazar's refugee settlements.
Image: DW/A. Islam
9 images1 | 9
'Maximum pressure is necessary'
Imtiaz Ahmed, a professor of international relations at the University of Dhaka, believes that the coup in Myanmar won't hamper the repatriation. "The repatriation agreement was made between two countries, not between two individuals. So, despite any change in the government, a country is bound by the terms of such an agreement," he told DW.
Ahmed pointed out that two major Rohingya repatriations took place in the 1970s and 1990s under a military government.
"It's the military government that has initiated the repatriations in the past, not when Aung San Suu Kyi was in power," Ahmed said, adding: "Same thing could happen now if the military wants to ease some international pressure by taking back the refugees."
Nay San Lwin, co-founder of the Free Rohingya Coalition, also shares a similar view, arguing that renewed international pressure could make a difference.
"Maximum pressure from the international community is necessary to not delay repatriation. Our rights to return to the original villages we came from, full citizenship of Myanmar and the protection must be ensured in the process," he told DW.
Rohingya in Bangladesh resist repatriation attempt
More than 700,000 Rohingyas have fled to Bangladesh to escape violence. On Thursday, the first repatriations to Myanmar were due to start, but the refusal of many refugees to go back brought the operation to a halt.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/D. Yasin
One million people live in Bangladesh refugee camps
More than a million Rohingya Muslims live in refugee camps in the Cox's Bazar district of Bangladesh. The poor South Asian country has struggled to deal with the humanitarian crisis, and living conditions in the refugee camps are dire. UN agencies say they have received only a fraction of the billions of dollars of aid money needed to run their operations in the area.
150 Rohingya Muslims were meant to be repatriated to Myanmar on Thursday, but protests put a stop to the operation. Hundreds of people chanted "we will not go" at a demonstration near the Myanmar border, and Bangladeshi authorities acknowledged that none of the refugees who were meant to be repatriated showed up or wanted to return.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/D. Yasin
UN and human rights groups critical of repatriation
Bangladesh had agreed with Myanmar to repatriate a total of more than 2,200 people, including Sitara Begum and her son Mohammed. The move has been criticized by the United Nations and aid groups. UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet said sending the refugees back would be like "throwing them back to the cycle of human rights violations that this community has been suffering for decades."
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/D. Yasin
Rohingyas report fleeing killings, destruction and rape
More than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims who fled army-led violence in Myanmar, mainly in the second half of 2017, are living in Bangladesh. The Rohingya refugees claim Myanmar soldiers and Buddhist civilians massacred families, destroyed villages and carried out gang rapes. UN investigators have accused the army of "genocidal intent."
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/D. Yasin
'I will not go'
Nurul Amin is on the first list of people to be repatriated to Myanmar. The 35-year old lives with his wife and family in the Jamtoli refugee camp, in the Cox's Bazar district of Bangladesh. "I will not go. My wife and other family members have gone elsewhere, they do not want to go," he said. Refugees refuse to go back to Myanmar out of fear for their safety.
"The military killed us, raped our sisters and mothers, torched our villages. How is it possible for us to stay safe under their control?" asked Khin Maung, head of the Rohingya Youth Association in Cox's Bazar. "Any peaceful repatriation will hugely be impacted. It will take a long time because the political situation in Myanmar is worse now," he told The Associated Press.
Meanwhile, the United Nations fears the coup will worsen the situation for hundreds of thousands of Rohingya living in Myanmar's Rakhine state.
"There are about 600,000 Rohingya those that remain in Rakhine State, including 120,000 people who are effectively confined to camps, they cannot move freely and have extremely limited access to basic health and education services," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters.
"So our fear is that the events may make the situation worse for them," he said.
If you experience problems while browsing dw.com from a region where internet access is restricted, consider using the Psiphon application. To add the DW Psiphon app, send an email to dw-w@psiphon3.com for a download link. If you use Psiphon via DW, you will first be re-directed to DW's website. From there, you can continue onward to any other website.
