Rohingya fleeing camps by boat detained by officials
Refugees say soldiers and local Buddhists carried out mass killings and rape last year, while the UN has accused the military of ‘genocidal intent’
Yangon/Cox’s Bazar — Dozens of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar and Bangladesh have boarded boats to try to reach Malaysia, officials and aid workers said on Thursday, raising fears of a fresh wave of such dangerous voyages after a 2015 crackdown on people smugglers. One boat attempted to set sail from the southern coast of Bangladesh on Wednesday, the coast guard said, while several vessels left Rakhine state in western Myanmar, according to Rohingya leaders, aid workers and a monitoring group. Officials detained 33 Rohingya and six Bangladeshis aboard a fishing boat bound for Malaysia in the south-eastern part of the Bay of Bengal, said Foyezul Islam Mondol, the head of the coast guard in south-eastern Teknaf Upazila. Six Bangladeshis were also arrested, he said. A spokesperson for the UN refugee agency in Myanmar said the organisation had heard “similar reports” of boats leaving the country but could not confirm their location. “With the prospect of boat movements increasing following...
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