Bangladesh allows entry to 10,000 stranded Rohingyas

Dhaka Oct 19 (IANS) Bangladesh authorities on Thursday allowed into the country around 10 000 Rohingyas stranded in an area between Bangladesh and Myanmar for days owing to a lack of space in camps.

The Inter Sector Coordination Group of the US had warned on Tuesday that between 10 000-15 000 members of the Rohingya Muslim minority were stranded in no-man s land but Dhaka temporarily refused to allow them to enter alleging lack of space in the makeshift camps in the area Efe news reported.

"We found there were around 10 000 people on the border. We started relocating them inside since 9.45 a.m. today " said Major Iqbal Ahmed commander of the Border Guard Bangladesh in Ukhia.

"When this group of people came we had requested the officials to find a place where they could be taken. They have now worked out it " he said.

Relief and Refugee Repatriate Commissioner of Bangladesh Abul Kalam said the group would be initially taken to a temporary shelter and later moved to a makeshift camp.

According to Kalam many of the 10 000 Rohingyas had to walk for days to reach the border and hence would need to undergo medical check-ups.

This week the UN raised the number of people who arrived in Bangladesh fleeing violence in Myanmar to 582 000.

The crisis began on August 25 when an insurgent group of the Rohingya Muslim minority staged a series of attacks on police and Army posts in Myanmar s Rakhine state to which the Myanmar military responded with an ongoing large-scale offensive.

--IANS
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