DHAKA: Bangladesh has stepped up vigilance on its border with Myanmar, with at least 18,000 Rohingya Muslims crossing it in recent months to avoid escalating violence in Myanmar's western Rakhine state, officials in Dhaka said.
The influx of refugees from Myanmar is increasing as fighting escalates between the ruling junta's troops and the Arakan Army, a powerful ethnic militia that recruits the Buddhist majority.
“Thousands of Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh, and many await the crossing. The situation is terrible,” said a representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who wished to remain anonymous, as he is not authorized to speak to the media.
The new arrivals add to the more than one million Rohingya refugees already living in overcrowded camps in the Cox's Bazar district after fleeing Myanmar's crackdown on military operations in 2017. They have little hope of returning to Myanmar, where they are largely denied citizenship and other basic rights.
The arrivals more than doubled the government's estimate earlier this month, despite Bangladesh repeatedly saying it could not take in more Rohingya refugees as resources were already stretched thin.
“Border vigilance has been stepped up, but managing our 271-km (168-mile) border with Myanmar is difficult, especially without a security partner on the other side,” said another government official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The official said many Rohingya are desperate and looking for ways to cross into Bangladesh.
The government has not yet decided whether to register those who have recently arrived and are living in refugee camps, a foreign ministry official said.
“If we decide to register them, it could open the floodgates, and we can't afford that,” he said. “But at the same time, how long can we ignore this issue? That's a real question.”
The head of Bangladesh's interim government, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus, called for rapid resettlement of the Rohingya to third countries as a long-term solution, but a foreign ministry spokesman said progress on resettlement had been limited.
“About 2,000 people have gone through the resettlement program since its resumption in 2022 after a 12-year hiatus,” he said, adding that the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Ireland were among the countries receiving refugees.
