Bangladesh seeks to shelter the growing number of fleeing Rohingya Muslims

The Bangladesh government on Monday offered a plot of land for a new camp to shelter the nearly 300,000 Rohingya Muslims who have fled Burma, also known as Myanmar. Refugees already have filled up two existing camps in Bangladesh, with many others setting up makeshift settlements along the border. Since the Aug. 25 clashes between Rohingya militants and Myanmar security forces in Rakhine state, approximately 270,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh. Myanmar has long denied the Rohingya Muslims citizenship rights and legal status. Mohammed Shahriar Alam, a junior minister for foreign affairs in Bangladesh, said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina offered 2,000 acres near one of the existing camps to set up a temporary shelter. The United Nations human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein on Monday called the crisis “a textbook example of ethnic cleansing.” Myanmar officials have barred UN investigators from entering Rakhine state.

Editor’s note: This report has been edited to note the correct size of the land offer for the new camp.