8,000 more Rohingyas flee Myanmar for Bangladesh

 Around 8,000 Rohingyas have recently fled to Bangladesh, escaping ongoing armed conflict in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, Foreign Affairs Adviser Md Touhid Hossain announced today.

"I have received information that approximately 8,000 Rohingyas have entered Bangladesh. We will hold serious discussions in the cabinet within the next 2-3 days to address this issue," Hossain told reporters at the foreign ministry this afternoon.

Bangladesh has, in principle, decided not to accommodate any more forcibly displaced Rohingyas, Hossain said. While expressing sympathy for the persecuted community, he emphasized that Bangladesh no longer has the capacity to provide humanitarian shelter to additional refugees.

Though the border with Myanmar has been sealed, Hossain acknowledged the challenges in fully securing the frontier. "It is not fully possible to seal the border," he said, but assured that the government will intensify efforts to prevent further Rohingya entry.

The foreign adviser also noted that he would meet with the home affairs adviser within the next two days to discuss further measures.

On the topic of repatriation, Hossain suggested that establishing a communication channel with the Arakan Army, the rebel group currently controlling much of Rakhine state, could be a step towards facilitating the return of the Rohingyas. "I believe this is a way forward, but we must assess what can realistically be done at the state level," he said.

Since August 25, 2017, Bangladesh has been hosting over a million forcibly displaced Rohingyas in Cox's Bazar district, the majority of whom arrived following a military crackdown in Myanmar that the United Nations described as a "textbook example of ethnic cleansing" and other rights groups called "genocide."

Despite Myanmar's agreement to take the Rohingyas back, repatriation efforts have failed twice over the past seven years due to a lack of trust among the Rohingyas regarding their safety and security in Rakhine state.