By Ruma Paul
DHAKA (Reuters) – Tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees gathered in camps in Bangladesh on Sunday to mark the seventh anniversary of the military crackdown that forced them to flee, demanding an end to the violence and a safe return to Myanmar.
More than a million Rohingya live in squalid camps in southern Bangladesh and have little prospect of returning to their homeland, where they are largely denied citizenship and other rights.
Thousands more are said to have fled Myanmar’s Rakhine state in recent weeks as fighting escalates between troops of the ruling junta and the Arakan Army, a powerful ethnic militia that recruits its soldiers from the Buddhist majority population.
Refugees, from children to the elderly, waved placards and chanted slogans in the camps in Cox’s Bazar, many wearing ribbons reading “Remember the Rohingya Genocide.”
“Hope is home” and “We Rohingya are the citizens of Myanmar,” read the posters.
“Enough is enough. Stop the violence and attacks on the Rohingya community,” said refugee Hafizur Rahman.
The latest attacks represent the most serious violence against the Rohingya since a Myanmar military campaign in 2017, described by the United Nations as genocidal, forced more than 73,000 people to flee across the border with Bangladesh.
Densely populated Bangladesh sees the only solution in sending the refugees back to Myanmar. The local population is reacting with increasing hostility as funds for the Rohingya dry up.
Bangladesh is unable to accommodate more Rohingya refugees, de facto foreign minister Mohammad Touhid Hossain told Reuters this month, urging India and other countries to do more.
Hossain also called for more international pressure on the Arakan Army to stop its attacks on the Rohingya in Rakhine state.
The UN Children’s Fund UNICEF has raised the alarm about the deteriorating situation in Rakhine, citing increasing reports of civilians, especially children, being caught in the crossfire.
Seven years after the exodus from Myanmar, “about half a million Rohingya refugee children are growing up in the largest refugee camp in the world,” it says.
“We want to return to our homeland with all rights. The United Nations should take initiatives to ensure our livelihood and peaceful coexistence with other ethnic communities in Myanmar,” said Rohingya refugee Mohammed Taher.
(Reporting by Ruma Paul; Editing by Giles Elgood)
