Geneva, MINA – The United Nations (UN) on Friday warned that around 45,000 Rohingya people had fled to flee due to increasing fighting in conflict-stricken Rakhine State, Myanmar.
“Tens of thousands of civilians have been forced to flee in recent days due to fighting in the towns of Buthidaung and Maungdaw,” UN human rights office spokesperson Elizabeth Throssell told journalists in Geneva, as quoted by frontiermyanmar.net on Monday.
“An estimated 45,000 Rohingya have reportedly fled to areas on the Naf River near the border with Bangladesh, to seek refuge,” he said.
Clashes have rocked Rakhine since the Arakan Army (AA) attacked the ruling junta’s forces in November 2023, ending a ceasefire that had largely held since a military coup in 2021.
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The AA says it is fighting for greater autonomy for the state’s ethnic Rakhine population, which is also home to some 600,000 members of the persecuted Rohingya Muslim minority.
Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya fled Rakhine in 2017 during a military crackdown that is now the subject of a genocide case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
“More than a million Rohingya are already in Bangladesh, fleeing the purge,” Throssell said.
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Turk urged Bangladesh and other countries “to provide effective protection to those seeking protection, in line with international law, and to ensure international solidarity with Bangladesh in hosting Rohingya refugees in Myanmar,” he said. (T/RE1/P2)
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