2,000 Rohingyas fleeing Myanmar to Bangladesh daily, says UN

According to an estimate by the United Nations, 2,000 Rohingyas are fleeing Myanmar to Bangladesh daily.

Dhaka, Oct 7: Since the time violence against Rohingyas broke out in Myanmar on August 25, at least 2,000 Rohingyas are leaving the country daily to avoid persecution to neighbouring Bangladesh.

Till date, an estimated 515,000 Rohingyas have come to Bangladesh from Myanmar since late August. The information has been revealed by the United Nations refugee agency on Friday.

More than 100,000 Rohingyas are waiting to cross to the southeast Bangladeshi port of Cox's Bazar from Myanmar's Rakhine state, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said, citing staff members monitoring the Bangladesh-Myanmar border.

Because of such a huge number of refugees taking shelter in one place, aid agencies fear Bangladesh won't be able to give enough food, drinking water and shelter to the already exhausted, hungry and weak refugees arriving in Cox's Bazar.

The IOM warned that the refugee crisis in Bangladesh could lead to widespread malnutrition.

According to an estimate, 218,000 people are already in need of urgent nutrition support, including 145,000 children under the age of five and thousands of pregnant and lactating women.

The Rohingyas started fleeing Myanmar after Rohingya insurgents attacked police posts there on August 25, prompting security forces to launch a counter-offensive which the UN has described as "a textbook case of ethnic cleansing".

The Rohingya, a stateless mostly Muslim ethnic minority, have long faced persecution in Rakhine in northern Myanmar (Burma). Bloody riots in 2012 forced over 100,000 Rohingya to flee to refugee camps in southeast Bangladesh, where many still live.

According to the UN, an estimated 800,000 Rohingyas (including the latest number of immigrants) are currently staying in Bangladesh.

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