270,000 Rohingya Have Fled Myanmar, U.N. Says
- 7 years ago
270,000 Rohingya Have Fled Myanmar, U.N. Says
8, 2017
HONG KONG — The number of Rohingya who have fled fighting in western Myanmar has climbed sharply to 270,000, placing
a huge strain on camps in Bangladesh where they are seeking shelter, the United Nations refugee agency said Friday.
Myanmar said that Refugees are now squatting in makeshift shelters
that have mushroomed along the road and on available land in the Ukhiya and Teknaf areas.
Two refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar in southeast Bangladesh
that were already home to nearly 34,000 Rohingya refugees "are now bursting at the seams," Duniya Aslam Khan, a spokeswoman for the refugee agency, said in a statement.
Senator John McCain of Arizona also wrote to Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi this week, noting
that he had been her friend and supporter and calling on her "to take an active role in putting a stop to this worsening humanitarian crisis as it spreads throughout the country." The most recent surge of refugees came after a Rohingya militant group attacked several police posts and a military base in Rakhine on Aug. 25.
The refugees in Bangladesh are mostly women and children who have arrived by foot, the United Nations refugee agency said.
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the de facto leader of Myanmar
and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate for her long struggle against military rule, has come under increasing international criticism for the plight of the Rohingya.
Previously, Malala Yousafzai of Pakistan, the youngest Nobel Peace Prize laureate, had also
confronted Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi on Twitter over the violence against the Rohingya.
8, 2017
HONG KONG — The number of Rohingya who have fled fighting in western Myanmar has climbed sharply to 270,000, placing
a huge strain on camps in Bangladesh where they are seeking shelter, the United Nations refugee agency said Friday.
Myanmar said that Refugees are now squatting in makeshift shelters
that have mushroomed along the road and on available land in the Ukhiya and Teknaf areas.
Two refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar in southeast Bangladesh
that were already home to nearly 34,000 Rohingya refugees "are now bursting at the seams," Duniya Aslam Khan, a spokeswoman for the refugee agency, said in a statement.
Senator John McCain of Arizona also wrote to Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi this week, noting
that he had been her friend and supporter and calling on her "to take an active role in putting a stop to this worsening humanitarian crisis as it spreads throughout the country." The most recent surge of refugees came after a Rohingya militant group attacked several police posts and a military base in Rakhine on Aug. 25.
The refugees in Bangladesh are mostly women and children who have arrived by foot, the United Nations refugee agency said.
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the de facto leader of Myanmar
and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate for her long struggle against military rule, has come under increasing international criticism for the plight of the Rohingya.
Previously, Malala Yousafzai of Pakistan, the youngest Nobel Peace Prize laureate, had also
confronted Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi on Twitter over the violence against the Rohingya.