Bangladesh has sent armed officers to try to stop the fighting in the camps
Credit: Munir Uz Zaman/AFP
Thousands of Rohingya have been forced to flee their homes in recent days after gang warfare broke out in the world’s largest refugee camp in southern Bangladesh, killing at least eight people and terrifying residents with sporadic gunfire, arson and abductions.
The authorities have arrested 12 people and dispatched hundreds of armed military and police officers to the sprawling camp of more than a million people near the coastal town of Cox’s Bazar to try to contain clashes between rival gangs fighting for control of a cross-border methamphetamine trade.
Refugees, already traumatised by their flight from ethnic cleansing in neighbouring Myanmar in 2017, are once again being displaced and living in fear. The chaos has also triggered concerns that efforts to curb the spread of Covid-19 in the squalid camps could be hampered.
Rahima Begum, a mother of two, said she had been forced along with hundreds of others to escape the ‘Kutupalong’ section of the Cox’s Bazar camp last week, where the violence is concentrated.
“Every night we heard the sound of gunfire. Nighttime was hell for us I saw people running with long knives, long sticks,” she told the Telegraph.
Rohingya refugees buy fish at a camp market
Credit: Munir Uz Zaman/AFP
“We’ve never seen this kind of clash before,” said Mohammad Abul Kalam, another camp resident. “Recently we’ve felt very insecure even during daylight.”
Refugees have claimed the two groups behind the fighting are the “Munna” gang, named after a notorious drug baron, and the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) — an armed group with a presence in the camp.
Attacks by ARSA on police posts in Myanmar in 2017 triggered a sweeping military crackdown that led more than 730,000 Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh. In a Twitter post, ARSA denied responsibility for the latest violence and blamed criminals seeking to cast aspersions on the group.
According to Amnesty International, around a dozen shelters in the Kutupalong refugee camp were burned to the ground.
“The situation inside the camps is highly precarious and, unless the authorities take the necessary action to quell the violence and protect refugees, there’s a serious risk of further bloodshed,” said Saad Hammadi, Amnesty International’s South Asia Campaigner.
More than 730,000 Rohingya fled to the Bangladeshi refugee camps in 2017
Credit: Fred Dufour/AFP
“Those suffering most are the Rohingya refugees caught in the middle. The Bangladeshi authorities must heighten security inside the camps as long as necessary to ensure their safety and launch an immediate and impartial investigation into the violence to bring those responsible to justice.”
The deteriorating situation has left some afraid that the government could use the ongoing violence as an excuse to enact its plan to relocate thousands to Bhashan Char, a remote silt island in the Bay of Bengal that has yet to complete the United Nations’ assessment for safe habitation.
Khing Maung, head of the Rohingya youth association stressed that the gang warfare did not reflect the community as a whole.
“I want to tell the Bangladeshi people that we are not here to fight each other but we are here to survive the persecution of the Myanmar military,” he said.
“We are totally against what is happening today in the camp. Those who are doing it are destroying our community’s image. We strongly condemn it and we will never forget the help of the Bangladeshi people.”
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