Within 24 hours, roughly 20,000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar for Bangladesh, according to UN sources. Rights groups have urged the Burmese government to allow monitors into affected areas to "uncover what's going on."
Image: picture alliance/AP Photo
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The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugee (UNHCR) on Saturday said tens of thousands of Rohingya arrived in Bangladesh over the past 24 hours, fleeing violence in neighboring Myanmar.
"Roughly 60,000 have arrived in Bangladesh since the violence erupted on August 25," said UNHCR spokeswoman Vivian Tan, roughly 20,000 more than local officials estimated on Friday.
Thousands of Rohingya have fled the Burmese state of Rakhine amid the worst sectarian violence in yearsImage: Reuters/M. Ponir Hossain
'Far worse than originally thought'
Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Saturday called on Myanmar to allow independent monitors into affected areas to ensure accountability with regards to the violence.
"This new satellite imagery shows the total destruction of a Muslim village, and prompts serious concerns that the level of devastation in northern Rakhine State may be far worse than originally thought," said Phil Robertson, HRW's deputy Asia director.
"Yet this is only one of 17 sites that we've located where burnings have taken place. Independent monitors are needed on the group urgently to uncover what's going on."
Since the violence erupted, humanitarian aid and food security agencies have shuttered their operations in Rakhine, including the World Food Program. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Friday warned of a growing "humanitarian catastrophe" if the Burmese government continued to deny aid workers access to affected areas.
The flight of Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar to Bangladesh
Rohingya Muslims fleeing from fighting in Myanmar face attempts by Bangladesh authorities to send them home despite a UN appeal that they be allowed to stay. The Rohingya are classed as illegal immigrants in Myanmar.
Seeking refuge
A series of coordinated attacks by Rohingya insurgents on Myanmar security forces in the north of Myanmar's Rakhine State triggered a crackdown by Myanmar forces that has sent a stream of Rohingya villagers fleeing to Bangladesh. About 400 people have been killed in the clashes in Buddist-majority Myanmar.
Mass evacuation
A Rohingya man passes a child though a barbed wire border fence on the border with Bangladesh. Myanmar accused the Rohingya insurgents of torching seven villages, one outpost, and two parts of Maungdaw town.
Image: Getty Images/R.Asad
Buddhist refugees on their way south
The crackdown by Myanmar forces also sparked a mass evacuation of thousands of Buddhist residents of the area. Tension has long been high between the Rohingya Muslims and Rakhine Buddhists, leading to bloody rioting in 2012. Rakhine Buddhists, feeling unsafe after the upsurge in fighting, are moving south to the state's capital, Sittwe, where Buddhists are a majority and have greater security.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
No entry
Bangladeshi border guards block people from crossing. Thousands of Rohingyas have sought to flee the fighting to Bangladesh, with nearly 30,000 crossing over. Bangladesh, which is already host to more than 400,000 Rohingya said it will not accept any more refugees, despite an appeal by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for Dhaka to allow Rohingya to seek safety.
Image: Reuters/M. Ponir Hossain
Humanitarian crisis
An aid worker with an international agency in Bangladesh reports: "What we're seeing is that many Rohingya people are sick. This is because they got stuck in the border before they could enter. It's mostly women and children." The Rohingya are denied citizenship in Myanmar and classified as illegal immigrants, despite claiming roots there that go back centuries.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M.Alam
Not welcome in Bangladesh
A group of Rohingya refugees takes shelter at the Kutuupalang makeshift refugee camp in Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh. Bangladesh's unwillingness to host more refugees became apparent in the government's plan to relocate Rohingyas to a remote island that is mostly flooded during the monsoon season.
Image: Reuters/M. P. Hossain
Stranded in no man's land
Rohingya children make their way through water as they try to come to the Bangladesh side from no man's land. Tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees are believed to be stuck at the border to Bangladesh.
