AFP | February 14, 2017
The ship initially planned to dock at Teknaf in southern
Bangladesh, where almost 70,000 Rohingya have fled from Myanmar's Rakhine state
to escape the violence.
CHITTAGONG: A Malaysian ship carrying aid for thousands
of Rohingya Muslims who have fled a bloody army crackdown in Myanmar docked in
Bangladesh’s Chittagong port Tuesday days after it met nationalist protesters
in Yangon.
Senior Bangladeshi officials and Malaysian diplomats
gathered at the port as Nautical Aliya docked in the southern city, from where
its aid cargo will be transported to Rohingya camps.
“It has berthed at the Chittagong port. The ship will
start unloading after a brief ceremony in the next few minutes,” Chittagong
Port Authority Secretary Omar Faruque told AFP.
Trucks will carry the 1,472 tonnes of food, clothing and medical
items to Cox’s Bazar, some 200 kilometres (125 miles) south of Chittagong for
distribution to tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees.
The ship initially planned to dock at Teknaf in southern
Bangladesh, where almost 70,000 Rohingya have fled from Myanmar’s Rakhine state
since October to escape the violence.
It also tried to dock near the island of Kutubdia on
Monday, but “technical issues” forced it to travel further north to Chittagong,
chief administrator of the region Ruhul Amin told AFP.
Dozens of Buddhist monks and nationalist demonstrators
last week protested the ship’s arrival in Myanmar’s capital, Yangon, with some
waving national flags and signs reading: “No Rohingya”.
Myanmar denies citizenship to the million-strong Rohingya,
despite many of them living on its soil for generations.
Buddhist nationalist groups are especially strong in
their vitriol, rejecting them as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.
Hundreds of Rohingya are thought to have been killed in
the brutal campaign, which the United Nations says may amounts to ethnic
cleansing.
Tens of thousands have fled to neighbouring Bangladesh,
bringing harrowing tales of murder and rape.
Myanmar’s treatment of the Rohingya has sparked
international criticism, including from Muslim-majority Malaysia — a rare spat
between Southeast Asian neighbours.
Myanmar initially refused to allow the ship into its
waters and has barred it from sailing to Rakhine’s state capital Sittwe.
The delivery comes days after a blistering report from
the UN accused Myanmar’s security forces of carrying out a campaign of rape,
torture and mass killings against the Rohingya.
Based on interviews with hundreds of escapees in
Bangladesh, investigators said the military’s “calculated policy of terror” very
likely amounted to ethnic cleansing.