Struggle continues to deal with Rohingyas amid fresh influx

Rohingyas continue entering Bangladesh in their thousands every day to flee ethnic cleansing in Myanmar adding more and more burden on the overwhelmed authorities that already struggle to cope with the situation.
The continued influx also causes difficulties for the authorities to bring Rohingyas at the world’s biggest refugee camp now under construction to provide them with relief and other assistance in more coordinated.
The authorities have so far brought 3.13 lakh of the 5.82 lakh Rohingyas who have entered Bangladesh fleeing ethnic cleansing in Myanmar since August 25, said UN agencies and other international humanitarian organisations in a situation report on Tuesday.
Many of the Rohingya new arrivals are living in overcrowded makeshift settles or under open sky. Some of them are still out of relief coverage and passing their days in untold sufferings with shortage of food and health and sanitation facilities.
Makeshift camps of Rohingyas continued sprouting up everywhere in Cox’s Bazar, especially on hill slops and in reserved forests, exposing the ethnic minority people of Myanmar to severe life-threatening condition.
Aid workers said that it was important to bring all Rohingyas to one camp in order to bring all of them under relief coverage.
The Bangladesh government in early September planned to construct a mega camp at Balukhali under Ukhia upazila in Cox’s Bazar with 84,000 sheds for estimated 4.20 lakh Rohingyas. As the influx continued, the government on October 5 decided to build 1,50,000 sheds to accommodate 8 lakh Rohingyas, which would the world’s biggest camp.
UN refugee agency UNHCR on Tuesday urged Bangladesh to ‘admit’ 10,000-15,000 Rohingyas stranded near the border at Anjuman Para border crossing point at Ukhia.
Border Guard Bangladesh 34 battalion acting commanding officer Major Iqbal Ahmed told New Age that they kept over 15,000 Rohingyas at no man’s land.
‘We would send them all to Balukhali camp. It is being delayed as authorities said they were looking for spaces for these Rohingyas,’ he said.
‘We are trying to bring all Rohingyas into the new camp in order to provide them with relief and other assistance in more coordinated way,’ said Cox’s Bazar refugee relief and rehabilitation commissioner Mohammad Abul Kalam, adding that 3.5 lakh Rohingyas were so far brought to the camp. 
‘As their [Rohingya] number is increasing, we have to revise our plan frequently,’ he said, adding that all kinds of humanitarian assistance were facing setbacks because of it.
According to UN estimation on Tuesday, 5,82,000 Rohingyas entered Bangladesh in the past 52 days in the new influx what the United Nations called the world’s fastest-developing refugee emergency. 
Officials estimated that the new influx already took to 10 lakh the number of Myanmar nationals living in Bangladesh, entering the country at times since 1978.
Rohingyas fled violence and persecution in Rakhine in 1978, 1991-92 and October 2016.
UN agencies and humanitarian groups working in Cox’s Bazar said that the concentration of Rohingyas in Cox’s Bazar was now amongst the densest in the world.
The new influx began after Myanmar security forces responded to Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army’s reported attacks on August 25 by launching violence what the United Nations denounced as ethnic cleansing.
UN and international agencies’ situation report on Tuesday said that 3.13 lakh Rohingya new arrivals took shelter at Balukhali camp, also known as Kutupalang expanded site.
It said that 49,000 Rohingyas took shelter at Kutupalang, Ledha and Shamlapur makeshift camps and Kutupalang and Nayapara refugee camp, 1,73,919 at spontaneous shelters at Moinar Ghona, Thangkhali, Unchiprang, Tasnimar Khola, Patibunia in Cox’s Bazar and 46,131 at places of host communities at Ramu, Teknaf and Ukhia of Cox’s Bazar.
Local people said that Rohinagys were still erecting makeshift shelters at Shamalpur, Kerantoli, Ali Khali, Jamtoli, Chakmaghata, Raikhang, Hakimpara, Moiner Ghona, Tasnimar Khola and other places in forests and far away from new Balukhali camp.
‘We are yet to make a decision about bringing Rohingyas living at Hakimpara, Moiner Ghona, Tasnimar Khola and registered and unregistered camps at Kutupalang and Nayapara refugee camps as they were close to Balukhali,’ Abul Kalam said.
He said that Rohingyas continued entering Bangladesh on Tuesday through different points of Palang Khali land border and sea border at Shah Pari Dwip.
UNHCR spokesperson Andrej Mahecic at a briefing in Geneva urged Bangladesh to ‘admit’ 10,000-15,000 Rohingyas stranded near the Bangladesh-Myanmar border at Anjuman Para border at Palangkhali. Some crossed into on Sunday night, others throughout Monday in the heat and rain. 
‘As of this morning, they are still squatting in the paddy fields of Anjuman Para village in Bangladesh. They are waiting for permission to move away from the border, where the sound of gunfire continues to be heard every night from the Myanmar side,’ Andrej Mahecic said. 
Many said that they had initially chosen to remain in their homes in Rakhine state of Myanmar despite repeated threats to leave or be killed. They finally fled when their villages were set on fire. 
‘UNHCR and our partners, the Bangladesh Red Crescent and Action against Hunger are delivering food and water to the stranded refugees, among them children, women and the elderly who are dehydrated and hungry from the long journey,’ Andrej Mahecic said . 
‘At the same time, we are collaborating to accelerate the opening up of the new Kutupalong extension site to avoid adding more pressure to already highly congested areas of the camp,’ Andrej Mahecic added.
Local people and Bangladesh Coast Guard on Tuesday recovered two more bodies of Rohingyas from the Naf River at Shah Pari Dwip. The bodies were washed up as a boat sailing from Godam Para with fleeing Rohingyas capsized in the River Naf early Monday.
Eleven more bodies were recovered on Monday.
Taknaf police officer-in-charge Md Mainuddin Khan told New Age that of the 13 deceased, eight were women and five were children.
The incident took to 180 the number of fleeing Rohingyas, mostly women and children, drowned in the bay and the River Naf since August 25.
International Organisation for Migration assured the government of all sorts of assistance in shifting Rohingyas to Bhasan Char in Noakhali, disaster management and relief minister Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya said on Tuesday.
‘Kulupalang camp, located on 3,000 acres of land, is a temporary one. We’ve started works in Bhasan Char ... IOM has assured us of providing all sorts of assistance for shifting the camp there,’ he said after a meeting with IOM director general William Lacy Swing at a Dhaka hotel.
Replying to a query, he said that it was quite clear that Rohingyas were still coming across. ‘We have to prepare for all over there. We have to take into consideration how we manage this,’ William Lacy Swing said.
Newly released satellite images reveal that at least 288 villages were partially or totally destroyed by fire in northern Rakhine after August 25, Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday. The destruction encompassed tens of thousands of structures, primarily homes inhabited by ethnic minority Rohingyas.
‘These latest satellite images show why over half a million Rohingyas fled to Bangladesh in just four weeks,’ said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director. ‘The Burmese military destroyed hundreds of Rohingya villages while committing killings, rapes, and other crimes against humanity that forced Rohingyas to flee for their lives.’
A total of 866 villages in Maungdaw, Rathedaung, and Buthidaung in Rakhine were monitored and analysed by Human Rights Watch. 
The most damage occurred in Maungdaw, accounting for about 90 percent of the areas where destruction happened between August 25 and September 25. 
About 62 per cent of all villages in the township were either partially or completely destroyed, and southern areas of the township were particularly hard hit, with about 90 per cent of the villages devastated.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net