Episode: KPN 03-11-2024 

Seeking safety – Rohingya arrive in Aceh amid dire conditions, growing casualties

Six people were killed as almost 100 Rohingya arrived by boat in Indonesia’s Aceh region, the latest wave of migrants from Myanmar in recent days.

Miftach Tjut Adek, chairman of a small fishing village, told Reuters on Thursday that 96 people, including seven children, remained on a beach in the eastern portion of Aceh, Sumatra.

He said two dead were located on the coast, four were floating in the sea, and eight sick persons had been taken for medical treatment.

Adek told reporters that the evacuees would be housed in tents on the beach until officials could find someplace to stay.

Last week, some 300 Rohingya arrived in the provinces of Aceh and North Sumatra.

The United Nations refugee agency UNHCR has urged Indonesia’s authorities to ensure their safety.

The predominantly Muslim ethnic community is persecuted in Myanmar, and hundreds of thousands have escaped military crackdowns to refugee camps in neighboring Bangladesh.

Thousands have embarked on risky excursions to Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia aboard dilapidated boats, taking advantage of calmer seas between October and April.

Myanmar, which has a Buddhist majority, considers the Rohingya as foreign intruders from South Asia, refusing them citizenship and subjecting them to abuse.

Myanmar had been under military rule for five decades until the 2015 elections when Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi’s party won a resounding victory.

On February 1, 2021, the military launched a coup against her government, resulting in massive protests that escalated into an armed revolt after the generals used force.

The Rohingya have borne the brunt of the recent violence because they were forced into the army despite not being recognized as citizens.

Men aged 18 to 35 and women aged 18 to 27 can be recruited into the military for two years, extending to five years if a national emergency is proclaimed.

Since the 1970s, Myanmar’s military has regularly targeted the Rohingya in Rakhine state.

In 2017, a military campaign caused over 700,000 Rohingya refugees to flee across the border to Bangladesh.

During crackdowns, refugees frequently report rape, torture, arson, and murder by Myanmar security forces.

The 2017 crackdown is being investigated by the International Criminal Court in The Hague since 2019.

Tagged as: Burma,  Malaysia going boat,  IDP camp in Arakan,  Arakan Army,  Myanmar,  Military navy,  Kutupalong,  Cox's Bazar,  Rohingya boat people,  Maungdaw,  Military Council force,  Rakhine,  IIMM,  Rathedaung,  ARSA,  Rohingya,  war crimes,  Rohingya Refugee,  Camp schools,  Akyab,  Rohingya refugee camp,  community schools,  APBn,  RRRC,  foods shortage,  Balukhali,  Sittwe,  hungers,  Bangadesh refugee camp,  Teknaf,  ration cut,  BGP,  Burma-Bangladesh border,  Arakan,  RSO,  Buthidaung,  BGB.