Bangladesh turns back fleeing Myanmar soldiers at border


By  AFP
July 16, 2024

A Buddhist monastery destroyed in May during fighting between Myanmar's military and the Arakan Army in western Rakhine State, Myanmar - Copyright AFP STR

Bangladesh stopped dozens of Myanmar security personnel from crossing into its territory to flee advancing rebel forces, a local government official based near their river border said Tuesday.

Clashes have rocked Myanmar’s western frontiers since the Arakan Army (AA) attacked security forces in November, ending a ceasefire that had largely held since the country’s 2021 military coup.

Hundreds of Myanmar troops have taken refuge in India and Bangladesh since then, usually staying for days or weeks before being repatriated on junta-organised flights.

But on Sunday at least 66 members of Myanmar’s Border Guard Police (BGP) were sent back immediately while trying to cross the Naf river into Bangladesh.

“The BGP members wanted to enter Teknaf on two boats. The coast guard prevented their entry,” Mujibur Rahman, a councillor of Bangladesh’s southeastern border town of Teknaf,

There was no immediate comment from either Bangladesh’s coast guard or Myanmar junta representatives.

A Teknaf-based journalist who took photographs of the boats said the vessels came close to a pier in the town but were pushed back towards Myanmar later in the night.

“Some of them were not wearing any shirts,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Months of fierce fighting in Myanmar have seen steady advances by the AA in the western state of Rakhine, piling further pressure on the junta as it battles opponents elsewhere in the country.

Medical charity Doctors Without Borders last month announced it was halting all activities near the state’s border with Bangladesh due to an “extreme escalation of conflict” in the area.

Bangladesh has accepted more than 850 fleeing Myanmar soldiers this year, a senior government official told AFP on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to speak to the media.

“We have already handed over 752 of them to Myanmar,” he said, adding around 100 border police and troops were waiting to be repatriated.

Bangladesh is home to around one million Rohingya refugees, most of whom fled Rakhine in 2017 after a military crackdown now the subject of a genocide investigation at a UN court.