Source: Reuters
GENEVA (Reuters) – The U.N. refugee agency urged Bangladesh on Tuesday to speed up vetting of up to 15,000 Rohingya refugees “stranded” near the border after crossing into the country from Myanmar and move them further inland to safer and better conditions.
Rohingya refugees who crossed the border from Myanmar a day before, wash themselves in a rice field as they wait to receive permission from the Bangladeshi army to continue their way to the refugee camps, in Palang Khali, Bangladesh October 17, 2017. REUTERS/Jorge Silva
Some 582,000 Rohingya are now known to have fled since violence erupted on Aug. 25 in northern Rakhine state, where they lack access to food and healthcare, U.N. officials said.
“We are gravely concerned about humanitarian conditions in Bangladesh, where thousands of new arrivals are stranded near the border,” UNHCR spokesman Andrej Mahecic told a Geneva news briefing.
An estimated 10,000 to 15,000 have entered Bangladesh through the Anjuman Para border crossing point since Sunday night, many of whom described walking for about a week to reach the border, he said.
Categories: Asia, Bangladesh, refugees, Rohingya Muslims, The Muslim Times, United Nations
