Bangladesh proposes safe zones for Rohingya refugees inside Myanmar

Bangladesh's prime minister on Thursday proposed creating UN-supervised safe zones inside Myanmar to protect Rohingya refugees who are fleeing a military crackdown to seek refuge in her country.

"These people must be able to return to their homeland in safety, security and dignity," Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina told the UN General Assembly.

The UN says more than 422,000 Rohingya – 60 percent of them children – have fled for safety to Bangladesh in the face of an army campaign in northern Rakhine state that includes rape and the burning of villages after attacks carried out by suspected Rohingya rebels on police posts on August 25.

Hasina accused Myanmar authorities of laying landmines on the border to prevent the Rohingya from returning and laid out a five-point plan on creation of "safe zones inside Myanmar under UN supervision."

TRT World's Shamim Chowdhury has this report from Bangladesh.

The UN has described Myanmar's military operation as "ethnic cleansing" and French President Emmanuel Macron went further, describing it as a "genocide."

The 1.1-million strong Rohingya people have suffered years of discrimination in Myanmar, where they are denied citizenship even though many have long-standing roots in the country.

The recent exodus of Rohingya has brought the number of refugees from Rakhine living in Bangladesh to over 800,000, Hasina said.

Hindu refugees find sanctuary in Bangladesh

While nearly 30,000 ethnic Rakhine Buddhists as well as Hindus have been displaced inside Myanmar since August 25, an estimated 500 Hindus have fled to Bangladesh.

In the small Hindu village in Kutupalong they now call home, the refugees first described attacks on their homes in Rakhine that triggered their escape.

"They came in black and they covered their faces," said Niranjan Rudro, 50, who worked as a barber in Myanmar.

"In my village there were 70 Hindu families. They surrounded us for three days and we couldn't leave the house even to get food."

Rohingya refugees have blamed the army and ethnic Rakhine Buddhist mobs for killings and arson attacks.

Buddhist and Hindu groups, meanwhile, blame suspected Rohingya rebels whose raids on police posts tipped the region into crisis.

$200 million needed over six months

Meanwhile, the UN estimates that $200 million will be needed over the next six months to help Rohingya refugees.

It launched an appeal for $78 million on September 9, but the refugees have kept coming.

"Right now, we’re looking at $200 million," Robert D Watkins, UN resident coordinator in Bangladesh said on Friday.

"It has not been confirmed, but it is a ballpark figure based on the estimates on the information we have," he said, adding that would be for six months.

Aid agencies say there are dire shortages of nearly all forms of relief in what has become one of the world's largest refugee settlements in Bangladesh.

Doctors Without Borders or MSF on Thursday warned that a "massive scale-up of humanitarian aid is needed in Bangladesh to avoid a public health disaster."