Rohingya refugees 'unbearable burden' for Bangladesh

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The number of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh has swelled to more than 500,000. That number could still increase with reports of more waiting to cross the border from Myanmar. But Bangladesh's Transport Minister Obaidul Quader told CGTN that Myanmar must take back the Rohingyas.

Under Bangladesh's sweltering heat, with their feet bare, and their stomachs empty, Rohingya refugees wait for aid. They've been provided with temporary shelters in Balu Khali, one of the largest Rohingya refugee camps in the country, but apart from roofs over their heads they've been offered little else.

Rohingya refugees collect water at a refugee camp, in Palang Khali near Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, October 5, 2017. /Reuters Photo

"My children didn't eat in the morning. I got nothing to feed them," said Hasinna, a Rohingya refugee.

Hasinna has become a single parent since losing her husband in the latest round of violence in Myanmar's Rakhine State, considered by most Rohingyas their home. Many Rohingya children are now orphaned, and if not, separated from their parents.

"Myanmar soldiers burned down our houses, so we have nothing left now, and that's why we're here," said another refugee, Rashida, whose husband is still trying to leave Myanmar.

When Bangladesh's transport minister arrived in the camp with relief packages, he didn't mince words. "Solution lies with them because the problem was created by Myanmar government," Quader said. "We want them to take back their citizens to their own homeland. This is unbearable burden for us."

A Rohingya refugee walks with an umbrella at a refugee camp in Palang Khali near Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, October 5, 2017. /Reuters Photo

In a televised speech on September 19, Myanmar's leader Aung San Suu Kyi announced a plan to repatriate refugees in accordance with a "verification" process agreed with Bangladesh, promising that "those who have been verified as refugees from this country will be accepted without any problems."

But Myanmar doesn't count Rohingyas as citizens, and most Rohingya refugees are afraid to go back. So for now, they wait – half a day, a day, or longer if they have to – just to get whatever help they can.

On Thursday, Bangladesh announced it would build one of the world's biggest refugee camps to house all the Rohingya Muslims who have sought asylum from violence in Myanmar. The authorities plan to expand a refugee camp at Kutupalong near the border town of Cox's Bazar to accommodate all the Rohingya refugees.

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