More than 100 Rohingya
Muslims have crossed into Bangladesh from Myanmar since Wednesday, with the
latest refugees saying army operations are continuing in troubled Rakhine
State, raising doubts about plans to send back 655,500 who had already fled.
Scores more were waiting to
cross the Naf river that forms the border, even as Dhaka prepares to start
repatriating next week some of the Rohingya who have escaped from what the
Myanmar military calls counter-insurgency operations since late August.
Bangladesh and Myanmar said
on Tuesday they had agreed to complete the return of the refugees within two
years, with the process due to begin on Jan. 23.
The United Nations has
described the Myanmar military operations in the northern part of Rakhine,
launched in response to attacks by militants on police and soldiers on Aug. 25,
as a classic case of ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya.
One boat crossed the Naf
river carrying 53 people early Wednesday, and another boat arrived from the Bay
of Bengal with 60 people Thursday morning, according to a Bangladeshi
intelligence official in Dhaka, and aid officials at the sprawling Rohingya
camp in Kutupalong, near Cox's Bazar.
Those waiting on the Myanmar
side to cross were stuck there because they did not have enough money to pay
the boatmen, the recent arrivals said. They said they paid between 30,000 and
40,000 kyat ($20-$30) a person for the night-time trips on rickety boats to
Teknaf, in the southernmost part of Bangladesh.
Most of the recent arrivals
said they came from Sein Yin Pyin village in Buthidaung district, and escaped
because they feared they would be picked up by the military if they left their
homes to go to work.
Looting in the forest
Mohammad Ismail, 48, and
four others said two weeks ago they saw a dead body hanging by a rope in a
forest where Ismail used to collect wood to sell at the market.
"After this I never
went to the forest again, and all my money was gone, so my family had nothing
to eat for three days," said Ismail.
Myanmar Police Colonel Myo
Thu Soe, spokesman for the military-controlled Home Affairs Ministry, said
"there's no clearance operation going on in the villages". But, he
added, "security forces are still trying to take control of the area"
in northern Rakhine. He declined to elaborate.
Government spokesman Zaw
Htay did not respond to requests for comment.
Myanmar's military said in
October that it was withdrawing soldiers from western Rakhine state.
Villagers from Sein Yin Pyin
said a group of soldiers caught around 200 of them sleeping in the forest on
their journey to Bangladesh and looted them of their belongings, including
rice, phones, solar chargers and money.
They were stopped again
later that day at a beach in Dongkhali village, where around 20 soldiers
recorded video of them on their smartphones, while questioning the group and
urging them to stay.
"Why are you leaving?
You are safe here, don't go. We will give you a car, go back to your village.
If you leave, you will not be able to come back again," Arif Ullah, 20,
said the soldiers told the group.
More than two dozen refugees
that Reuters interviewed recounted a similar version of events.
"First their men looted
us, and then they stopped us again to ask why we were leaving," said Umme
Habiba, 15. "We left because we were scared."
Fayazur Rahman, a
33-year-old labourer from southern Buthidaung, said 12 soldiers barged into his
home two weeks ago and sexually assaulted his 18-year-old sister. "Day by
day, things were getting worse," he said.
Reuters could not
independently confirm the accounts the new arrivals gave. Myanmar has denied
most allegations of abuses levelled against its security forces during the
operations in Rakhine.
Repatriation starts date?
In Dhaka, a senior foreign
ministry official told Reuters that the deadline of next Tuesday for starting
the Rohingya repatriation to Myanmar "may not be possible".
"The return has to be voluntary,
safe and dignified," said the official, who was part of a 14-member team
at talks with Myanmar this week about the repatriation.
He said Myanmar would take
back 1,500 Rohingya a week, "although our demand was 15,000 per
week", adding the number could be ramped up over the next few months.
They would be sheltered in a
temporary transit camp in Myanmar before being moved to "houses as per
their choices".
"They (Myanmar) will
create all kind of provisions including for their livelihood. We want to make
sure there's a sustainable solution to the crisis," the official said.