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Agence France-Presse

Bangladesh on Sunday deployed heavily-armed border guards to an island near its southern border with Myanmar for the first time in 20 years, officials said.
Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) distributed images showing dozens of troops carrying assault rifles disembarking at Saint Martin’s island, a small island in the Bay of Bengal that has caused diplomatic tensions between the neighbours.


The BGB said the troop deployment was part of “regular activities” to ensure border protection and curb drug trafficking.
But the force’s lieutenant colonel, Sarker Mohammad Mustafizur Rahman, told AFP it was the first time since 1997 their men had landed there.
Bangladesh tells UN it cannot accept any more Rohingya refugees
“After more than 20 years we felt we should deploy,” he said.
The deployment comes just two months after Bangladesh’s foreign ministry summoned Myanmar’s ambassador in Dhaka to protest the inclusion of Saint Martin inside their territory in some maps printed inside the Southeast Asian country.
He was also summoned in October last year, after a Myanmar government website depicted the island as within Myanmar’s territory.

Ties between the neighbours have soured since the Myanmar military launched a crackdown on the Rohingya minority in Rakhine, a troubled western state bordering Bangladesh.
The brutal operation has forced some 740,000 Rohingya Muslims into Bangladesh since August 2017, transforming parts near the border into the world’s largest refugee camp.
Dragon at the doorstep: Myanmar’s changing ties with China
Muslim-majority Bangladesh has accused Myanmar of perpetrating genocide against the Rohingya, who share some cultural and linguistic similarities with Bangladeshis in the country’s southeast.


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Bangladesh

Bangladesh deploys border guards to island near Myanmar border after maps show it in the wrong territory

Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) paramilitary personnel carrying assault rifles queue to board on a ship as they have been deployed on Saint Martin's island, a small island in the Bay of Bengal in Teknaf, on April 7, 2019. - Bangladesh on April 7 deployed heavily-armed border guards to an island near its southern border with Myanmar for the first time in 20 years, officials said. (Photo by STR / AFP)

Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) paramilitary personnel disembark on Saint Martin’s island in the Bay of Bengal on Sunday. This is the first time they have been deployed to an island near its southern border with Myanmar in 20 years, officials said. Photo: STR via AFP

Bangladesh tells UN it cannot accept any more Rohingya refugees fleeing violence in Myanmar

Rohingya Muslims, who crossed over from Myanmar into Bangladesh, wade towards the Jamtoli refugee camp in Ukhiya. Photo: AP

FILE PHOTO: A Rohingya refugee is seen in Balukhali refugee camp at dawn near Cox's Bazaar, Bangladesh, March 28, 2018. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne//File Photo

Dragon at the doorstep: Myanmar’s changing ties with China

News

Asia

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South Asia

Bangladesh said the deployment to St Martin’s island was routine, but a commanding officer said it was the first deployment since 1997
The move comes after maps printed in Myanmar show the island inside its territory


Bangladesh said the deployment to St Martin’s island was routine, but a commanding officer said it was the first deployment since 1997. The move comes after maps printed in Myanmar show the island inside its territory.


Rohingya Muslims

Myanmar

Defence

Diplomacy