UN says Rohingya exodus to Bangladesh nears 300,000

Nearly 300,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled Myanmar's Rakhine state into Bangladesh in the 15 days since new violence erupted, the United Nations said on Saturday.

The figure has jumped about 20,000 in a day.

"Some 290,000 Rohingya arrived in Bangladesh since August 25," said Joseph Tripura, a spokesman for the UN refugee agency.

Officials said that the UN has found more Rohingya in villages and areas which were previously not included by relief agencies.

Most of the Rohingya are arriving by foot or boat across Bangladesh's 278km border with Myanmar, a fourth of which is made up by the Naf river.

The UN said that there was a sharp increase in arrivals on Wednesday, when more than 300 boats arrived in Bangladesh.

On Thursday the UN had put the number at 164,000.

Most persecuted minority

Often described as "the world's most persecuted minority", Rohingya have long been subjected to discrimination in Buddhist majority Myanmar, which denies them citizenship.

Myanmar's government regards them as illegal migrants from Bangladesh, even if they have lived in the country for generations.

Refugee camps near Bangladesh's border with Myanmar already had about 300,000 Rohingya before the upsurge in violence and are now overwhelmed.

The tens of thousands of new arrivals have nowhere to shelter from monsoon rains.

The latest figure takes the number of Rohingya refugees who have arrived in Bangladesh since violence erupted last October to 377,000.

Those flocking into Bangladesh have given harrowing accounts of killings, rape and arson by Myanmar's army. The Myanmar authorities deny any wrongdoing. 

Most have walked for days and the United Nations says many are sick, exhausted and in desperate need of shelter, food and water.

Turkey says could build liveable camps

On Friday, Turkey - the first country to deliver humanitarian aid to the Rohingya - said that the current tent camps in Bangladesh are not liveable.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Turkey could share its know-how on building camps with better facilities as the country has hosted around three million Syrian refugees for over six years.

"If Bangladesh authorities allocate an area, we want to build more liveable tent camps [for Rohingya refugees] using our experience," Erdogan said.

"TIKA [Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency] has distributed 1,000 tons of humanitarian aid. In the second phase, we are planning to distribute 10,000 tons of food, medicine and clothes," he said.

On Thursday, Turkey's First Lady Emine Erdogan handed out aid to Rohingya refugees during a visit to a camp in Bangladesh.

Pressure on Aung San Suu Kyi

The UN, global rights bodies and many countries with large Muslim populations, including Pakistan, Malaysia and Turkey, have expressed concern over the violence and called on Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi to act.

Myanmar's neighbour India has, however, supported Suu Kyi who likened Rohingya issue with Kashmir dispute earlier this week. 

Suu Kyi said, "We are facing the same problem as India is facing in Kashmir [India-administered Kashmir]", during the visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Myanmar.