New drone footage captures the immensity of the current Rohingya refugee crisis. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) released video, showing thousands of Rohingya Muslims crossing the Naf River into Bangladesh, from above.
They join the more than half million others who have fled Myanmar in the last two months after co-ordinated Rohingya insurgent attacks sparked a ferocious military response with the fleeing people accusing security forces of arson, killings and rape.
The UN has described the violence led by the military in Myanmar as “textbook ethnic cleansing.”
The UNHCR video shot Monday shows the groups of Rohingya refugees moving along a narrow strip of land alongside the river that marks the border between southeastern Bangladesh and western Myanmar. It shows the extent of the exodus with crowds stretching for kilometres.
Some 582,000 Rohingya refugees have arrived in Bangladesh by either foot or boat since the violence erupted on Aug. 25, according to the UN. Many of the newcomers are starving, terrified and sick.
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Witnesses told the Associated Press that some refugees were being starved in hopes of getting them to leave. Others have said they have received no food since arriving.
“We came here two nights ago with lot of difficulties. It took us eight days to reach here,” said Anjuma, who didn’t give her last name.
— With files from Reuters and the Associated Press