Bangladesh plans to go ahead with work to develop an island in the Bay of Bengal to temporarily house tens of thousands of Rohingya Muslims fleeing violence in neighbouring Myanmar, officials say.
Dhaka says the Rohingyas are not welcome, and has told border guards to push back those trying to enter the country illegally. But about 2,70,000 Rohingyas fleeing violence in Myanmar have sought refuge in Bangladesh in the past two weeks, a spokeswoman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said on Friday.
“We are stopping them wherever we can, but there are areas where we can’t stop them because of the nature of the border; forests, hills,” said HT Imam, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s political adviser.
“We have requested international agencies for help for shifting the Rohingya temporarily into a place where they can live, an island called Thengar Char. Developing Thengar Char should be given serious consideration,” he said.
Leonard Doyle, chief spokesman for the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), said the idea of moving refugees to the island has been talked about for years, but he hadn’t heard anything new in the past few days.
The island is two hours by boat from the nearest settlement. Flat and featureless, Thengar Char has no roads or buildings.
“The honourable prime minister wants to resettle them in Thengar Char, though some people say that island will not be a suitable place for them,” said another PM aide, who asked not to be named. “But there are many such areas in Bangladesh, where Bangladeshis live. It’s our country, and we decide.”
Officials say no one could have foreseen just how many refugees would arrive so swiftly after violence in northern Myanmar last year sent more than 75,000 Rohingya fleeing across the border.
The latest unrest in Myanmar’s northwestern Rakhine state began on August 25, when Rohingya insurgents attacked dozens of police posts and an army base, prompting an army counter-offensive that has killed at least 400 people and forced entire villages to flee.
Myanmar says its security forces are fighting a legitimate campaign against “terrorists”.