Front condemns killing of Rohingya Muslims

All eyes will be on the Nobel laureate this Tuesday as she addresses the nation on the crisis for the first time, a speech that many outside the country hope will explain her near silence on the unfolding human tragedy.

The tough new measures came as Dhaka struggled to cope with the scale of the “unprecedented crisis”, with Bangladesh’s prime minister Sheikh Hasina heading for the United Nations General Assembly to plead for global help.

Rohingya Muslims, who crossed over from Myanmar into Bangladesh, walk towards the nearest refugee camp at Teknaf.

The ministry said Myanmar’s “provocations” could lead to “unwarranted consequences”.

Bangladesh border guards said on Sunday the flow of refugees leaving Myanmar had eased off over the past day, apparently because bad weather had discouraged people from taking to boats to reach Bangladesh.

Health personnel from Rohingya camp areas in Ukhia and Teknaf said a rising number of people, mostly children, are visiting the health facilities with diarrhea, fever, cold and skin diseases.

The Rohingya crisis is set to figure as a key issue at the UN General Assembly in NY, where world leaders are gathering for meetings and to make speeches beginning this week. Since the Rohingya are considered to be illegal Bengali immigrants and were denied recognition as a religion by the government of Myanmar, the dominant group, the Rakhine, rejects the label “Rohingya” and have started to persecute the Rohingya.

Aid groups worry diseases like cholera will spread through the settlements.

Officials said Friday that Myanmar has rebuffed several recent requests by Canada and other western countries to send envoys into Rakhine for a first-hand look.

Condemning the killings, they demanded the protection of the Muslims in Myanmar.

Many people are arriving hungry, exhausted, and with no food or water.

“I have quite sharp images of what those people are going through now”.

“We have already got all the supplies necessary from the government and non-government agencies, and mobilized additional health personnel from neighbouring upazilas to conduct the vaccination campaign”, said Salam.

Aid agencies are still blocked from accessing all of Rakhine State due to what the Myanmar military says are security concerns.

Some became orphans when their parents were killed in the violence.

The reason for persecution: As Rohingya expert Azeem Ibrahim told New York Magazine, the Rohingya were chosen as a scapegoat for the failure of the (then) Burmese government’s communist reforms during the 1960s.

“This is a situation that the whole world needs to react (to)”.

“There’s little clean water, we’ve seen people fighting over money, over food, it’s undignified, and it’s catastrophic really”.