TEKNAF/NEW YORK -  Horrifying stories of gang rape, torture and murder are emerging from among the thousands of desperate Rohingya migrants who have fled to Bangladesh in the past few days to escape unfolding violence in Myanmar.

John McKissick, head of the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) in the Bangladeshi border town of Cox's Bazar, told the BBC that Myanmar authorities' actions against the Rohingya amounted to "ethnic cleansing".

Up to 30,000 of the impoverished ethnic group have left their homes in Myanmar, the UN says, after troops poured into the narrow strip where they live earlier this month.

McKissick said troops were "killing men, shooting them, slaughtering children, raping women, burning and looting houses, forcing these people to cross the river" into Bangladesh.

Dhaka has resisted urgent international appeals to open its border to avert a humanitarian crisis, instead telling Myanmar it must do more to prevent the stateless Muslim minority from entering.

"It's very difficult for the Bangladeshi government to say the border is open because this would further encourage the government of Myanmar to continue the atrocities and push them out until they have achieved their ultimate goal of ethnic cleansing of the Muslim minority in Myanmar," McKissick said.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called on the Bangladeshi government to accept and protect the Rohingya Muslim refugees fleeing persecution in neighbouring Myanmar amid accusations by a UN Official that Myanmar was seeking their ethnic cleansing.

The New York-based rights group made the plea after Bangladesh threatened to send the Rohingya refugees who have arrived in its territory back to Myanmar, where the Myanmarese government and extremist Buddhists have been harassing them.

HRW’s South Asian Director Meenakshi Ganguly said, “Bangladesh has long argued that it cannot afford to host the Rohingya, and it is of course imperative for the international community to provide necessary assistance.” The scale of human suffering was becoming clear Thursday, as desperate people like Mohammad Ayaz told how troops attacked his village and killed his pregnant wife.

Cradling his two-year-old son, he said troops killed at least 300 men in the village market and gang-raped dozens of women before setting fire to around 300 houses, Muslim-owned shops and the mosque where he served as imam. "They shot dead my wife, Jannatun Naim. She was 25 and seven months pregnant. I took refuge at a canal with my two-year-old son, who was hit by a rifle butt," Ayaz told AFP.

Ayaz sold his watch and shoes to pay for the journey and has taken shelter at a camp for unregistered Rohingya refugees. Many of those seeking shelter say they walked for days and used rickety boats to cross into Bangladesh, where hundreds of thousands of registered Rohingya refugees have been living for decades.

The Rohingya are loathed by many in Buddhist-majority Myanmar who see them as illegal immigrants and call them "Bengali", even though many have lived there for generations.

Most live in impoverished western Rakhine state, but are denied citizenship and smothered by restrictions on movement and work.

As the crisis deepened, Bangladesh said late Wednesday it had summoned Myanmar's ambassador to express "deep concern".

"Despite our border guards' sincere effort to prevent the influx, thousands of distressed Myanmar citizens including women, children and elderly people continue to cross (the) border into Bangladesh," the government said. "Thousands more have been reported to be gathering at the border crossing."

Since the latest violence flared up, Bangladesh border guards have intensified patrols and coast guards have deployed extra ships. Officials say they have stopped around a thousand Rohingya at the border since Monday.

Farmer Deen Mohammad was among the thousands who evaded the patrols, sneaking into the Bangladeshi border town of Teknaf four days ago with his wife, two of their children and three other families.

"They (Myanmar's military) took my two boys, aged nine and 12 when they entered my village. I don't know what happened to them," Mohammad, 50, told AFP. "They took women in rooms and then locked them from inside. Up to 50 women and girls of our village were tortured and raped."

Mohammad said houses in his village were burned, echoing similar testimony from other recent arrivals.

Human Rights Watch said Monday it had identified more than 1,000 houses in Rohingya villages that had been razed in northwestern Myanmar using satellite images.

Myanmar's military has denied burning villages and even blamed the Rohingya themselves.

Jannat Ara said she fled with neighbours after her father was arrested and her 17-year-old sister disappeared. "We heard that they (Myanmar's army) tortured her to death. I don't know what happened to my mother," said Ara, who entered Bangladesh on Tuesday.

Rohingya community leaders said hundreds of families had taken shelter in camps in the border towns of Teknaf and Ukhia, many hiding for fear they would be sent back to Myanmar.

Police on Wednesday detained 70 Rohingya, including women and children, who they say will be sent back across the border.

"They handcuffed even young girls and children and then took them away with a view to pushing them back to Myanmar," said one community leader who asked not to be named, adding they faced "certain death" if made to return.

 

AFP/SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT