JAKARTA – More Rohingya refugees are arriving in the Southeast Asian country by sea, with more than 110 Rohingya refugees landing in Indonesia’s Aceh province on Saturday after their boat nearly sank, the United Nations refugee agency and local government said. Officials announced.
The mainly Muslim Rohingya, who originate from Myanmar and make up the world’s largest stateless population, usually leave squalid conditions in refugee camps on precarious boats between October and April, when seas are calm, to Thailand and other Muslim countries. Head to Indonesia and Malaysia, where the majority are Christians.
Last month, about 400 Rohingya arrived by boat in Aceh and North Sumatra provinces.
State news agency Antara reported that the Rohingya who came ashore on Saturday were mostly women and children who came ashore after their boats encountered difficulties.
“The boat they were on sustained some damage and was about to sink, so they were rescued by fishermen,” Shamsul said.
UNHCR official Faisal Rahman said a total of 116 refugees had landed in Birem Bayun district in East Aceh province.
About one million Rohingya live in camps in Bangladesh, which UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi calls “the world’s largest humanitarian refugee camps.”
Buddhist-majority Myanmar views them as foreign invaders from South Asia, stripping them of citizenship and subjecting them to abuse.
More than 2,000 Rohingya arrived in Indonesia last year, more than the number of arrivals in the previous four years combined, according to UNHCR data.
Indonesia, which is not party to the U.N. Refugee Convention, says it does not have the capacity to take in refugees, and some Rohingya have faced hostility within the country as local residents are frustrated by the increase.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to the text.
