Rohingya boat marks new exodus

A BOAT carrying 56 Rohingya that landed in Thailand yesterday was the first batch of hundreds fleeing across Southeast Asia from conflicts in Myanmar’s Rakhine state as well difficulties now plaguing refugee camps in Bangladesh, sources said.

The group of boat people was found before dawn in an area between Koh Ha and Koh Lanta in Krabi province, local officials said, adding that 19 children were onboard. The group was then held in Lanta district yesterday.
Krabi Governor Kitibodee Pravitra confirmed that people travelling on the boat were Rohingya, but said he did not know where they had come from. 

“The initial report said they were docking near Koh Lanta this morning to avoid the storm,” he was quoted as saying by AFP, referring to the Thai island popular with tourists. “They want to go to Malaysia.” 
The people on board would continue on their destination, he added.

About 700,000 people have fled from Rakhine state to Bangladesh since August last year, when a militant group attacked Myanmar security outposts, prompting a harsh crackdown under a “clearance operation” by authorities that killed thousands of people. 
Atrocities including arson, torture, gang rape, murder and massacres have been reported by international organisations and the media, as most of Rakhine’s Rohingya population was forced from the state. The United Nations human rights body has said there have been “elements of ethnic cleansing” in some areas and “genocide” may have been perpetrated. 

Myanmar authorities refuse to recognise Rohingya as national citizens, calling them “Bengali” to suggest their origination outside of the country. The country’s de facto civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi has allegedly been complicit in the violence in the state. 

It remained unclear yesterday where the Rohingya discovered near Koh Lanta had come from, with it being possible that they had left directly from their homes in Rakhine or had escaped from the crowded refugee camps in Bangladesh, a Rohingya man in Thailand told The Nation on condition of anonymity. 
While the camps in Bangladesh are tightly controlled by security forces, trafficking syndicates have resumed operating given the high demand for people seeking refuge farther abroad, he said. 
“As far as I know, some 400 people have paid for the boat trip across the Indian Ocean to Southeast Asia countries Thailand or Malaysia,” he added.
Siyeed Alam, chairman of Rohingya Association in Thailand, said his association was seeking ways to reach the group, but Thai authorities had not allowed them to be contacted as of yesterday. 
Thailand and Asean have heard frequent warnings that the Rohingya crisis could become a regional issue as members of the ethnic minority will continue to disperse across the region, including with the involvement of abusive human-trafficking rings, as were exposed in 2015. 
Violence in Rakhine continues and life in the refugee camps is difficult as Bangladeshi authorities and aid agencies struggle to take care of the displaced population. 
Bangladesh and Myanmar recently reached a deal to repatriate thousands of Rohingya to Rakhine, but the plan has been delayed due to a lack of readiness on the Myanmar side to receive them.
Rohingya in the refugee camps and the international community have called for guarantees of a safe return and establishment of protected areas in Rakhine before repatriation begins.