Number of Rohingya Muslims fleeing Myanmar tops 100,000
Activist says number fleeing desperation in Myanmar has surged in recent weeks
A growing sense of desperation is fuelling a mass exodus of Rohingya Muslims from western Myanmar, with the number fleeing by boat since communal violence broke out two years ago now topping 100,000, a leading expert said yesterday.
Chris Lewa, director of the non-profit advocacy group Arakan Project, said there had been a huge surge since October 15, with an average of 900 people per day piling into cargo ships parked off Rakhine state.
That is nearly 10,000 in less than two weeks, one of the biggest upticks yet.
Myanmar, a predominantly Buddhist nation of 50 million, has an estimated 1.3 million Rohingya. Though many of their families arrived from neighbouring Bangladesh generations ago, almost all have been denied citizenship. In the past two years, attacks by Buddhist mobs have left hundreds dead and 140,000 trapped in camps, where they live without access to adequate health care, education or jobs.
Lewa said some Rohingya families had been told new ships had started arriving in neighbouring Thailand, where passengers often are brought to jungle camps, facing extortion and beatings until relatives come up with enough money to win their release.
From there they usually travel to Malaysia or other countries, but, still stateless, their futures remain bleak.
In Myanmar, the vast majority live in the northern tip of Rakhine state, where an aggressive campaign by authorities in recent months to register family members and officially categorise them as "Bengalis" - implying they are illegal migrants from neighbouring Bangladesh - has aggravated their situation.
According to villagers, some were confined to their villages for weeks at a time for refusing to take part in the "verification" process, while others were beaten or arrested.
More recently, dozens of men were detained for having alleged ties to the militant Rohingya Solidarity Organisation (RSO), said Khin Maung Win, a resident from Maungdaw township, adding that several reportedly were beaten or tortured during their arrests or while in detention.
Lewa said three of the men died. "Our team is becoming more and more convinced that this campaign of arbitrary arrests is aimed at triggering departures," she said.
Rakhine state spokesman Win Myaing denied any knowledge of arrests or abuse.
"There's nothing happening up there," he said. "There are no arrests of suspects of RSO. I haven't heard anything like that."
Every year, the festival of Eid ul-Adha, which was celebrated by Muslims worldwide early this month, marks the beginning of a large exodus of Rohingya.
