More than 70,000 people have fled sectarian violence in Myanmar amid a widening military crackdown. But a Rohingya insurgency has also prompted smaller Buddhist and Hindu groups to flee Myanmar's poorest state.
Image: picture-alliance/Zuma Press/Suvra Kanti Das
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The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Sunday said thousands of Rohingya fleeing sectarian violence in Myanmar have poured into Bangladesh, exacerbating an unfolding humanitarian crisis in the borderlands.
"Hundreds of people displaced by the violence are still crossing into Bangladesh. An estimated 73,000 people have entered into Bangladesh as of Sunday morning," Joseph Tripura, UNHCR spokesman, told DPA news agency.
Since August 25, Myanmar has witnessed the worst sectarian violence in years, with Burmese security forces and Muslim-minority Rohingya militants accusing each other of burning down villages and staging mass killings. Some 400 people have been killed by the ensuing violence.
Dozens of Rohingya have died attempting to cross the river that separates Myanmar and Bangladesh, while tens of thousands have been turned back by Bangladeshi border guards.
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.
"We fled to Bangladesh to save our lives. The military and extremist Rakhine burning us, burning us, killing us, setting our village on fire," said a man who goes by the name Karim.
He said he paid the equivalent of €125 ($149) for each of his family members to be trafficked across the river into Bangladesh after soldiers entered his village and executed more than 100 Rohingya.
"The military destroyed everything. After killing some Rohingya, the military burned their houses and shops … We have a baby who is 8 days only, and an old woman who is 105."
Meanwhile, Buddhist and Hindu groups have also fled the state, citing attacks by Rohingya militant groups.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday warned Burmese authorities to rein in the violence and allow aid works into affected areas or witness a "humanitarian catastrophe."
