STARVING BURMESE ENTER BANGLADESH

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     THOUSANDS OF STARVING BURMESE REFUGEES ENTER BANGLADESH
 
 
According to BBC World Service news bulletins on 14 June 1997
"UN officials from Southeast Bangladesh say that at least 3000
refugees from Burma have fled across the border in the last
two months. The refugees say they are escaping forced labour,
discriminatory taxation and compulsory relocation. But the
Bangladeshi Government says they are economic migrants.
Bangladesh is still trying to repatriate a quarter of a
million Burmese Muslims who arrived in 1992. Frances Harrison
reports from Cox's Bazaar in Bangladesh."
 
Frances Harrison: "Even the Bangladeshi border guards, whose
job it is to prevent the Burmese refugees entering the country
say they feel pity for them. One Commander said the newcomers
were so hungry they hardly had an ounce of flesh on their
bones. Thousands of refugees have entered Bangladesh, walking
for up to a week to reach the border, and then crossing by
boat at night. Local people who trade with Burma say the
authorities there have prevented large groups of people from
crossing the border, but many more are managing to escape,
some of them from areas deeper inside western Burma than
before. Once inside Bangladesh, new refugees cannot seek
asylum, or they risk being arrested as illegal immigrants. And
the government does not allow the United Nations to give
anything but emergency medical assistance to the newcomers. In
one incident this week, fourteen new refugees, among them
children and a sick man, were arrested and held prisoner
without food for a day. In tears they begged to be shot on the
spot rather than returned to Burma. "At least we'll get a
decent burial here", they said. But while whole families are
fleeing Burma, the Bangladeshi Government is trying to press
ahead with repatriation of the remaining refugees from the
influx in 1992. Many of those who were repatriated earlier
this year have already returned. It is clear that from now on,
repatriation will not be voluntary if it does take place."  
 
 
Burma Peace Foundation Monitoring Service 14 June 1997