DHAKA: Bangladesh has tightened security on its border with Myanmar, with officials in Dhaka saying at least 18,000 Rohingya Muslims have crossed in recent months to escape escalating violence in Myanmar's western Rakhine state.
As the influx of refugees into Myanmar grows, fighting has intensified between the ruling military and the Arakan Army, a powerful ethnic militia comprised mostly of Buddhists.
“Thousands of Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh and many more are waiting to cross. The situation is desperate,” said a foreign ministry official who asked not to be named because he is not authorized to speak to the media.
The new arrivals join more than a million Rohingya refugees already living in overcrowded camps in Cox’s Bazar district after fleeing a military-led crackdown in Myanmar in 2017. They have little hope of returning to Myanmar, where they are largely denied citizenship and other basic rights.
Despite Bangladesh's repeated declarations that its resources are already stretched thin and it cannot take in any more Rohingya refugees, the number of arrivals has more than doubled since the government estimated earlier this month.
“Security has been strengthened along the border, but managing the 271km (168 miles) border with Myanmar remains a challenge, especially when there is no security presence on the other side,” said another government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The official said many Rohingya were in desperate circumstances and were looking for ways to cross into Bangladesh.
A Foreign Ministry official said the government has not yet decided whether to register people who recently entered the country and are living in refugee camps.
“If we decide to register, the floodgates could open, and that's something we can't afford to do,” he said. “But at the same time, how long can we afford to ignore this problem? That's the real question.”
Bangladesh's interim government leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus has called for rapid third-country resettlement of the Rohingya as a long-term solution, but a foreign ministry official said progress on resettlement had been limited.
“About 2,000 people have been admitted to the resettlement program in 2022, which was restarted after a 12-year hiatus,” he said, adding that the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Ireland are among the countries accepting refugees.
