Hundreds of Rohingya refugees set sail from Bangladesh

COX’S BAZAR, Bangladesh: At least three boats carrying hundreds of Rohingya refugees set sail from Bangladesh this week, refugees said on Friday, the latest in a wave of migrations that has seen more than 1,000 asylum seekers arrive on Indonesian shores.

Bangladesh is home to around one million Rohingya refugees, most of whom fled a violent 2017 crackdown by the Myanmar military that is now subject to a United Nations genocide probe.

Conditions for Rohingya refugees in the overcrowded, dangerous and under-resourced relief camps in Bangladesh are tough. Mohammad Ullah, 26, a registered Rohingya refugee in the Nayapara camp in Cox´s Bazar, said his former mother-in-law -- who had been looking after his four-year-old daughter after his wife died -- had taken the child with her on a boat to Indonesia on Tuesday night.

“She took my daughter saying that she was taking her to the beach -- and then did not return her,” the distraught Mohammad Ullah told AFP. “When I went to ask where she was, I found out she took my daughter with her family to take on a boat towards Indonesia.”

He said Rohingya people saw Indonesia as a safe place, because they “easily resettle the refugees”. The mostly Muslim Rohingya are still persecuted in Myanmar, and thousands risk their lives each year on long and expensive sea journeys, often in flimsy boats, to try to reach Malaysia or Indonesia.