Bangladesh asks Myanmar to pull back troops from border

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Bangladesh Thursday asked Myanmar to immediately "pull back" security forces and heavy weapons from the border after the troop build-up near a camp housing thousands of stranded Rohingya stirred tension on the troubled frontier.

The foreign ministry "summoned" Myanmar's envoy and conveyed the country's "concerns" over the "military build-up" amid rising tensions following the influx of nearly 700,000 Rohingya refugees from Myanmar.

Bangladesh's acting foreign secretary "conveyed to the Myanmar ambassador in Dhaka that such military build-up will create confusion within Bangladesh and escalate tensions on the border," the ministry said.

Rohingya Muslims gather outside their makeshift homes on land belonging to Bangladeshi farmer Jorina Katun near Kutapalong refugee camp in the Cox's Bazar district of Bangladesh, February 9, 2018. /Reuters Photo

"He told the ambassador to convey to the Myanmar authorities for the immediate pullback of Myanmar security forces along with military assets from the area," it said.

Dhaka said the troops were mobilized near a thin strip of land between the two countries where around 6,000 Rohingya have been living since fleeing Myanmar following violence in late August. They were among the first to flee Myanmar and set up shelters in no man's land in the weeks before Bangladesh agreed to let the Rohingya into the country.

In recent weeks they have come under pressure from Myanmar soldiers, who have stepped up patrols along the barbed-wire border fence just meters from the camp and broadcast messages using loudhailers ordering the Rohingya to leave. Hundreds of Rohingya have since fled the camp and taken shelter in refugee settlements in Bangladesh's southeastern border district of Cox's Bazar.

Rohingya refugees walk through a shallow canal after crossing the Naf River as they flee violence in Myanmar to reach Bangladesh in Palongkhali near Ukhia, October 16, 2017. /VCG Photo

The diplomatic protest came as Bangladesh border guards and Rohingya living on the no man's land said some 100 Myanmar soldiers arrived near the refugee camp Thursday in heavy military vehicles.

The build-up came despite Bangladesh and Myanmar having signed a deal to repatriate some 750,000 Rohingya to their homeland in Rakhine State. But the process was delayed at the last moment due to lack of preparations and protests by the refugees.

Myanmar views the Rohingya as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and has long denied them citizenship and basic rights.

(Top photo: Myanmar's troops take part in a military exercise at Ayeyarwaddy delta region in Myanmar, February 3, 2018. /VCG Photo)

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Source(s): AFP