By Devex Editor
EDITOR’S NOTE: There needs to be a coordinated response to the plight of the Rohingya people, many of which have been driven out western Burma by government forces lately. Wealthier Muslim countries should step up, writes Joshua Kurlantzick, fellow for southeast Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Over the past year, as conflict has flared in Rakhine State in Myanmar, growing numbers of Rohingya have fled their homes. It remains unclear to me — even after a trip to Rakhine State — exactly why the conflict started now, and what role the local security forces have played, if any. However, it is abundantly clear that the region’s management of Rohingya outflows is horrendous, a failure pointed out by the increasing numbers of Rohingya who are fleeing by boat, rather than going to camps in Myanmar or Bangladesh.

(Reuters) – Nearly 6,000 Rohingya Muslims have arrived in Thailand since October, when sectarian violence flared in Myanmar’s western Rakhine state and displaced tens of thousands of people, a top Thai security agency said on Thursday

Entire communities of Rohingyas are languishing in makeshift camps in Myanmar, without access to healthcare or clean water, according to the Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) aid group, while Thailand has promised humane treatment for the 5,899 who have arrived on its shores.

“Those detained will continue to be treated as illegal and given only basic care in line with humanitarian practices,” said Dittaporn Sasamit, a spokesman for Thailand’s Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC).

RANGOON — A medical aid group says its access to camps with tens of thousands of Muslims who fled the inter-communal violence in Arakan State, is being blocked by government forces and local leaders. As a result, the displaced are suffering and at times dying from preventable diseases.

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) General Director Arjan Hehenkamp told a press conference on Thursday that Muslim groups were being confined to sites in muddy rice fields or narrow strips of land without access to health care, clean water or sanitation.

Government security forces restrict MSF visits and limit the movement of Muslim patients, even if they are critically ill, Hehenkamp said, adding that local Arakanese were reluctant to cooperate with MSF due to the authorities’ attitude, or because they resent efforts to help the Muslim camps.

BANGKOK: On the surface, Thailand’s decision to allow hundreds of Rohingya refugees to remain inside the country temporarily for six months as illegal immigrants seemed a commendable move. However, upon deeper scrutiny it showed the government’s kneejerk manner of responding to the influx of “new boat people” from the Bay of Bengal and the overall recklessness among intra-government agencies.

Worse still was the view held by the secretary-general of the National Security Council, Lt-Gen Paradon Pattanathaboot, who continues to be in a state of denial, believing that the Rohingya are not victims of a region-wide human trafficking operation. The Thai authorities believe they are victims of human smugglers who dump them in Thailand before they go to Malaysia.

By: Khalid Iqbal

The United Nations considers Rohingyas of Myanmar as a persecuted religious and linguistic minority. Myanmar considers this community, of about 800,000, settled in Rakhine, as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

Despite their continuous residential reality, Myanmar is reluctant to grant them their due citizenship rights. Last year, a statement by Burmese President Thein Sein that “all Rohingyas should either be deported or placed in refugee camps” sparked a mass exodus.

Needless to say, Buddhist Rakhine and Muslim Rohingya communities have co-existed for generations. They are now being forcibly segregated. Barriers have been erected across the roads in the state capital and the homes of thousands of Rakhine people have been destroyed. The divide between Buddhists and ethnic Muslims echoes of similar happenings in the Balkans.

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s navy yesterday rescued 138 Bangladeshis and Myanmar nationals from a sinking fishing vessel off the island’s east coast, officials said.

One passenger was found dead while many of the 138 plucked from the boat were dehydrated, said navy spokesman Kosala Warnakulasuriya, adding that the vessel had been adrift for 10 days before it sank yesterday.

“We sent three ships for the rescue at a location 80km off the eastern coast of Akkaraipattu,” Warnakulasuriya said. “Some have been admitted to a local hospital.”

Police said 14 were Myanmar nationals while the others were Bangladeshis.

Fifteen of the survivors, including two women and two children, were hospitalised with acute dehydration, police said in a statement.

“We have difficulty in communicating with the survivors so we have asked the two embassies to send us translators,” police spokesman Prishantha Jayakody said.