Arakan News Agency
More 200 Rohingya Muslim refugees joined the number of refugees in Bangladesh on Thursday as calls for the upcoming regional summits increased pressure on Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of Myanmar, to stop the crisis.
The military operation in Myanmar has prompted more than 600,000 Rohingya refugees to flee since late August. The latest testimonies from refugees who have found refuge in Muslim-majority Bangladesh say several thousand more are still trying to leave.
A border guards official in Bangladesh said about 200 people arrived Thursday morning at the coastline in Teknaf on the southern end of the Cox’s Bazar area.
Abdel Saber was one of many Rohingyas, those fled Myanmar by boat said “We fled because the army is still burning our houses,” as his home in Rathidaung township of Myanmar’s Arakan state was burned to the ground.
Hussain Sharif, from the Buthidaung township, said he had spent four hours helping to bring 56 people aboard a primitive raft made of bamboo sticks and plastic containers.
“Some boat owners were asking for huge money and we did not have the money, so we made our own boat and we came here.” Thousands of Rohingyas are still trapped in the Ba Nyeong-ji district at the mouth of the Naf River.
A storm of protests over Myanmar’s humanitarian crisis will put the country’s government under more diplomatic pressure by at least leaders from Muslim-majority countries and the United States during three upcoming summits hosted by Vietnam and the Philippines.
After the summit which is scheduled for Friday, Suu Syi will participate in the ASEAN summit in Manila on Sunday, followed by the East Asian Summit in Los Angeles, north of the Philippine capital.
The summits will focus on creating a regional trade bloc and discussing concerns about North Korea’s nuclear ambitions, but New York-based Human Rights Watch urged participating countries to ensure stronger action against Myanmar to end the crisis.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will meet Suu Kyi on Nov. 15 for talks on the Rohingya crisis and are expected to hold a joint press conference.
