Dhaka: Bangladesh has increased vigilance on its border with Myanmar, where at least 18,000 Rohingya Muslims have crossed in recent months to escape escalating violence in western Myanmar's Rakhine state, officials in Dhaka said.
The influx of refugees from Myanmar has increased as fighting between the ruling junta forces and the Arakan Army, a powerful ethnic militia drawn from the Buddhist majority, has intensified.
“Thousands of Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh and many are waiting to cross. The situation is dire.
The new migrants add to the more than one million Rohingya refugees already living in overcrowded camps in the Cox's Bazar region after fleeing a military crackdown in Myanmar in 2017. They have little hope of returning to Myanmar, where they are largely denied citizenship etc. Basic rights
Despite Bangladesh repeatedly saying it cannot take in more Rohingya refugees because resources are already stretched thin, the number of arrivals is more than double what the government estimated earlier this month.
“Vigilance has been heightened along the border, but managing our 271-kilometer border with Myanmar is challenging, especially without a security counterpart on the other side,” said another government official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The official said many Rohingya are desperate and are finding ways to cross into Bangladesh.
The foreign ministry official said that the government has not yet made a decision on the registration of people who have recently arrived and are living in displaced persons camps.
“If we decide to sign them up, it could open the floodgates, and that's something we can't afford,” he said. But at the same time, how long can we ignore this issue? This is the real question.”
Bangladesh's interim prime minister, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus, has called for rapid resettlement of Rohingya in third countries as a long-term solution, but the foreign ministry official said progress on resettlement has been limited.
He said: “About 2,000 people have been resettled since the resettlement program restarted in 2022 after a 12-year hiatus.
