U.N. says 270,000 Rohingya fled Myanmar in past two weeks
Source: Reuters
GENEVA (Reuters) - An estimated 270,000 Rohingya refugees have fled Myanmar in the past two weeks and sought refuge in Bangladesh, where two existing refugee camps are “bursting at the seams”, the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR said on Friday.
The exodus of the minority Rohingya was triggered by insurgent attacks on Aug. 25 and an army counter-offensive.
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“The two refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar in southeast Bangladesh – home to nearly 34,000 Rohingya refugees before this influx – are now bursting at the seams. The population has more than doubled in two weeks, totalling more than 70,000. There is an urgent need for more land and shelters,” UNHCR said in a briefing note for reporters in Geneva.
“The vast majority are women, including mothers with newborn babies, families with children. They arrive in poor condition, exhausted, hungry and desperate for shelter.”
Read more: http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-myanmar-rohingya-unhcr/u-n-says-270000-rohingya-fled-myanmar-in-past-two-weeks-idUKKCN1BJ0YU
Meanwhile:
Desmond Tutu has joined Malala Yousafzai in condemning fellow Nobel Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi over the treatment of the Rohingya minority in Burma, and called for her intervention to help end the crisis.
Mr Tutu, a veteran anti-apartheid activist, said the price of Ms Suu Kyi’s silence was “too steep” and called on her “to be courageous and resilient again”.
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“Over the last several years, I have repeatedly condemned this tragic and shameful treatment,” she said.
“I am still waiting for my fellow Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi to do the same. The world is waiting and the Rohingya Muslims are waiting.”
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/desmond-tutu-malala-aung-san-suu-kyi-burma-rohingya-muslims-bangladesh-a7935536.html
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