400,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled Burma, says UN
Nearly three weeks into a mass exodus of Rohingya fleeing violence in Burma, thousands are still flooding across the border in search of help and safety in teeming refugee settlements in Bangladesh.
The crisis has drawn global condemnation, with UN officials demanding Burma halt what they described as a campaign of ethnic cleansing that has driven some 400,000 Rohingya Muslims to flee Rakhine state.
One of the dozens of boats carrying Rohingya to the Bangladeshi border town of Teknaf capsized on Thursday and at least two people drowned, police said.
That brought known drownings in the Naf River to 88 since the crisis began.
Those who arrived in wooden boats to beaches near Shah Puri Dwip fishing village on Wednesday described ongoing violence in Burma, where smoke could be seen billowing from a burning village - suggesting more Rohingya homes had been set alight.
One Rohingya man who arrived on Wednesday said his village of Rashidong had been attacked six days earlier by Burmese soldiers and police.
"When military and police surrounded our village and attacked us with rocket launchers to set fire, we got away from our village and fled away to any direction we could manage," Abdul Goffar said.
Burma's presidential office spokesman Zaw Htay said that, out of 471 "Bengali" villages in three Rakhine townships, 176 were now completely empty while at least 34 more were partially abandoned.
Many in Burma use the term "Bengali" as part of the long-standing refusal to accept Rohingya as citizens of the country.
Burma has accused the Rohingya of burning their own homes and villages - a claim the UN human rights chief criticised as a "complete denial of reality".
The crisis and refugee exodus began on August 25, when Rohingya insurgents attacked police posts.
Burma's military retaliated with "clearance operations" to root out the rebels, but the fleeing Rohingya say Burmese soldiers shot indiscriminately, burned their homes and warned them to leave or die.
Others have said they were attacked by Buddhist mobs.
Hundreds have died, mostly Rohingya, and some of the refugees have needed treatment for bullet wounds.
Facing growing condemnation globally, Burma's leader Aung San Suu Kyi will not attend UN General Assembly meetings between September 19-25 to instead deal with what the government said were domestic security issues.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters on Wednesday that ethnic cleansing was taking place against Rohingya in Rakhine state.
The term "ethnic cleansing" is defined as an effort to rid an area of an unwanted ethnic group - by displacement, deportation or even killing.
The UN Security Council called for "immediate steps to end the violence" and ensure civilian protections.
Rohingya have faced decades of persecution in Buddhist-majority Burma, and are denied citizenship despite centuries-old roots in the Rakhine region.
The thousands of Rohingya flooding into Bangladesh every day have arrived hungry and traumatised.
Many need urgent medical care for violence-related injuries, severe infections or childbirth.
"The women who are coming for check-ups all have a terrified and exhausted look," said Sumaya, a midwife at the Nayapara refugee camp working in association with the UN population fund.
"We keep hearing stories from them of walking through jungles and across hills for days without food, their children carried over their shoulders. They've lost their homes."
Two existing refugee camps were packed beyond capacity, and Bangladesh has said it would free land to build a third.
Many of the new arrivals were huddling in makeshift shelters along roads or in open fields.
Near the camp of Balukhali, some were setting up tents made of bamboo and plastic along hillsides muddy from days of rain.
Children walked uphill to capture rainwater before it spilled into the teeming settlements below.
Food, clean water and other necessities were scarce.
Panic erupted on Thursday along roadsides where local volunteers were distributing food, water and other supplies haphazardly from parked vehicles.
Local officials shouted through bullhorns for volunteers to co-ordinate their efforts with aid agencies to avoid spreading chaos.
"There are acute shortages of everything, most critically shelter, food and clean water," Unicef's country representative Edouard Beigbeder said.
Bangladesh was already housing some 500,000 Rohingya who fled earlier flashes of violence including anti-Muslim riots in 2012.
Rakhine state had up to one million Rohingya before the latest violence.
AP
