Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi has come under pressure from countries with large Muslim populations including Bangladesh, Indonesia and Pakistan to halt violence against Rohingya Muslims after nearly 125,000 of them fled to Bangladesh.
Reuters reporters saw hundreds of exhausted Rohingyas arriving on boats near the village of Shamlapur in Bangladesh near the Myanmar border. The village, facing the Bay of Bengal, appears to have become the newest receiving point for the refugees after authorities cracked down on human traffickers in a different part of the Teknaf peninsula.
Indonesian foreign minister Retno Marsudi was due in the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, on Tuesday after meeting the Nobel peace laureate and army chief Min Aung Hlaing to urge that Myanmar halt the bloodshed.
"The security authorities need to immediately stop all forms of violence there and provide humanitarian assistance and development aid for the short and long term," Retno said after her meetings in the Myanmar capital.
READ: Persecution of all Muslims in Myanmar on the rise, rights group says
The latest violence in Myanmar's northwestern Rakhine state began on Aug 25, when Rohingya insurgents attacked dozens of police posts and an army base. The ensuing clashes and a military counter-offensive have killed at least 400 people and triggered the exodus of villagers to Bangladesh.
The treatment of Buddhist-majority Myanmar's roughly 1.1 million Muslim Rohingya is the biggest challenge facing Suu Kyi, who has been accused by Western critics of not speaking out for the minority that has long complained of persecution.
Myanmar says its security forces are fighting a legitimate campaign against "terrorists" responsible for a string of attacks on police posts and the army since last October.
Myanmar officials blamed Rohingya militants for the burning of homes and civilian deaths but rights monitors and Rohingya fleeing to neighbouring Bangladesh say the Myanmar army is trying to force them out with a campaign of arson and killings.
"Indonesia is taking the lead, and ultimately there is a possibility of ASEAN countries joining in," H.T. Imam, a political adviser to Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, told Reuters.
He was referring to the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations that groups both Myanmar and Indonesia.
"If we can keep the pressure on Myanmar from ASEAN, from India as well, that will be good."
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi begins a visit to Myanmar later on Tuesday, during which he will meet top officials, including Suu Kyi.
"Modi is going there and our foreign secretary has already briefed the foreign secretary of India on this," said Imam. "If the international conscience is awakened that would put pressure on Myanmar."
Turkey called the violence against the Rohingya "genocide" and offered Bangladesh help with the refugee influx. Pakistan, home to a large Rohingya community, has expressed "deep anguish" and urged the world body, the Organization of Islamic Countries, to act.
ESCAPE FROM MYANMAR
New arrivals and residents in Shamlapur said hundreds of boats had arrived on Monday and Tuesday with several thousand people, after a crackdown on traffickers at an island about 50 km (31 miles) south.
Reuters reporters saw men, women, children and their belongings, even live chickens, disembark from one boat.
"We fled to a hill when the shooting started. The army set fire to houses," said Salim Ullah, 28, a farmer from Myanmar's village of Kyauk Pan Du, gripping a sack containing his few remaining belongings, as he gazed exhausted at the beach.
"We got on the boat at daybreak. I came with my mother, wife and two children. There were 40 people on a boat, including 25 women."
The latest estimate of the numbers who have crossed the border into Bangladesh since Aug. 25, based on calculations by U.N. workers in the south Asian country, is 123,600.
That takes to about 210,000 the number of Rohingya who have sought refuge in Bangladesh since October, when Rohingya insurgents staged much smaller attacks on security posts, triggering a major Myanmar army counteroffensive and sending about 87,000 people fleeing into Bangladesh.
The new arrivals - many sick or wounded with burns or bullet wounds - have strained the resources of aid agencies and communities already helping hundreds of thousands of refugees from previous spasms of violence in Myanmar.
"One camp, Kutapalong, has reached full capacity," said Vivian Tan, the regional spokeswoman for the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR.
"Nayapara saw several hundred people arrive in one day. This is stretching resources. We are doing what we can, but will need to seek more resources."
In Shamlapur, refugees said about 40 people were packed into the curved hulls of fishing vessels three meters long.
Fishermen were demanding payment of as much as 10,000 taka (US$124) for each adult, with Rohingyas who could not pay being detained, the refugees said.
Bangladesh pulled 53 dead from the Naf River separating it from Myanmar, and from the sea. Many more were suspected to have died on the journey.
Social worker Shahid Ullah said he feared another deadly capsize was inevitable, given the monsoon season.
"If just one boat sinks, we will have 30 or 40 people dead."
Reuters
Tue Sep 05 2017
A Rohingya refugee girl cooks a meal in an open place near Balukhali in Coxs Bazar, Bangladesh on Sept 4, 2017. - REUTERS
Freedom Flotilla to Gaza: Misi sekali lagi ditangguhkan, dijangka berlepas pada Jumaat
Ketika ini lokasi kapal memulakan pelayaran akan ditukarkan ke satu lokasi yang akan diumumkan dalam masa terdekat.
Pihak produksi masih terima Naim Daniel jika ubah fikiran
Ketua saluran Astro Ria, Norzeha Mohd Salleh memberitahu bahawa pihak produksi masih lagi memberi ruang kepada penyanyi tersebut untuk mempertimbangkan semula tawaran yang diberikan.
The Hardest Singing Show cabar kreativiti penyanyi tempatan
Program The Hardest Singing Show mencari satu juara yang mampu menyahut cabaran kreativiti luar limitasi.
Pekerja Ahli Parlimen EU disyaki jadi pengintip China
Polis Jerman telah menahan seorang pekerja ahli politik Parlimen Eropah Alternative for Germany (AfD) kerana disyaki menjadi pengintip China.
Amaran ribut hujan tahap tertinggi dikeluarkan di Guangdong, selatan China
Lebih 100,000 orang sudah dipindahkan akibat hujan lebat dan banjir yang boleh membawa maut di selatan China.
Jokowi dan anaknya bukan lagi ahli PDIP
Presiden Indonesia Joko Widodo atau Jokowi dan anaknya, bakal naib presiden Gibran Rakabuming Raka, bukan lagi ahli parti terbesar negara itu selepas mereka menyokong calon pesaing yang juga pemenang pilihan raya Prabowo Subianto.
Lima migran maut ketika cuba memasuki Perancis
Lima termasuk seorang kanak-kanak, maut dalam cubaan menyeberangi Selat Inggeris dari Perancis pada Selasa.
Polis New York lakukan penahanan himpunan lewat malam
Polis New York bertindak melakukan penahanan membabitkan peserta yang terlibat dalam himpunan solidariti terhadap Palestin di Universiti New York (NYU) pada lewat malam Isnin. Penahanan itu dibuat selepas mereka didakwa mengingkari arahan amaran pihak universiti untuk bersurai dan mengosongkan plaza yang menjadi tempat mereka berkumpul.
Break The Siege: Ada kemungkinan lokasi pelepasan kapal ditukar
Jawatankuasa Pemandu Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), Kamarul Zaman Shaharul Anwar memaklumkan, wujud kemungkinan lokasi pelabuhan bagi pelepasan kapal yang terlibat dalam misi Break the Siege of Gaza Freedom Flotilla ditukar.
Benarkan syarikat milik bukan Islam cetak Al-Quran, pengarah syarikat didenda
Seorang pengarah syarikat percetakan dijatuhi hukuman denda RM8,000 atau penjara lima bulan oleh Mahkamah Majistret Petaling Jaya pada Selasa selepas mengaku salah tidak mematuhi syarat-syarat lesen untuk mencetak atau menerbitkan Teks al-Quran, bulan lepas.