SUSPECTED ARSON ATTACK LEAVES THOUSANDS OF ROHINGYA HOMELESS IN BANGLADESH

Sun 07 January 2024:

Following a suspected arson attack that tore through their camp and burned about 800 homes, thousands of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh are now without a place to stay, an official said on Sunday.

About a million Rohingya, who are primarily Muslim, are living in Bangladesh; many of them escaped a military crackdown on them in neighboring Myanmar in 2017; this crackdown is currently being investigated by the UN for possible genocide.”Nearly 7,000 Rohingya refugees” had been rendered homeless, according to the UN refugee agency, although no one had been killed.

🚨 Massive fire in the Rohingya refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh.#Bangladesh #Rohingya #Dhaka pic.twitter.com/dmXtrfMbN8

— The Pakistan Frontier (@PakFrontier) January 6, 2024

At a camp in the southeast of the country, the densely populated complex of bamboo and tarpaulin shelters was destroyed by fire early on Sunday morning, according to refugee commissioner Mizanur Rahman.

“At least 711 shelters were fully burnt and 63 were partially damaged,” said Rahman, who put the number of homeless at 4,000.

“We have ordered a probe into the fire,” he added. “We suspect it is an act of arson.”

The UN said 120 facilities, including learning centers, mosques, and healthcare centers, had also been “destroyed or damaged by the inferno.”

Some refugees had to tear down their homes to create corridors to stop the fire from spreading further.

“Refugees displaced by the fire are temporarily taking shelter within the camp’s community centers,” the UN refugee agency said in a statement.

Fires in the dozens of Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh are common, especially during the dry season from November to April.

In March 2023, a fire in Kutupalong camp — one of the world’s largest refugee settlements — destroyed 2,000 shelters.

Two years earlier, at least 15 Rohingya were killed and another 50,000 refugees were made homeless after a blaze in the same camp.

But many of the camps are also riven by violence between rival Rohingya groups.

Police said security in the camps has worsened, with more than 60 refugees killed in turf wars and drug-related clashes last year, the highest number on record.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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