A six-month-old Rohingya baby, Jane Alam, died yesterday, shortly after its mother managed to enter Bangladesh territory. The mother, Nur Begum, said they were forced to flee Myanmar as the authorities there have been carrying out brutal repression, including killings and rapes, in their villages. She and others are presently staying at an unregistered Rohingya camp in Bangladesh. Talking to The Independent correspondent, Nur Begum recounted her horrible experience. Myanmarese soldiers killed her husband 16 days ago. “They also killed my two sons by setting them on fire,” she said. After a three-week journey, Nur Begum made it to the camp at Leda, across the border in Bangladesh, carrying her sick baby. “I finally had some food at the camp, and thought I would be able to feed my baby. But Alam left me before I had the chance,” she said.
Despite the efforts of the Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) to prevent the influx, thousands of distressed Myanmar citizens, including women, children and the elderly, continue to cross the border into Bangladesh. Thousands more are reported to be gathering at the border crossing.
Up to 30,000 Rohingyas have abandoned their homes in Myanmar since early October, after soldiers poured into the strip of land in the western Rakhine state, following deadly raids on border posts. The refugees who have made it to Cox’s Bazar so far have brought with them horrifying stories of gang rape and murder. The Myanmar army flatly denies the allegations. That Myanmar does not want its more than one million Rohingyas is clear. It refuses them citizenship, while many among the majority Buddhist community refer to the Muslim minority as “Bengalis”—a term for illegal immigrants.