Approximately 60,000 Rohingya have fled fighting between regime forces and the Arakan Army (AA) in northern Arakan State and have entered into Bangladesh over the last two months, according to the Bangladesh interim government Adviser for Foreign Affairs Md. Touhid Hossain
“While our policy is not to allow more Rohingya entries, circumstances forced us to accept 60,000 new arrivals. They weren’t officially admitted but entered through various routes,” said Md. Touhid Hossain at a press conference in the Bangladesh capital Dhaka on Dec. 22, following his return from Bangkok, Thailand where he joined an “informal meeting” on the Myanmar crisis on Friday.
The AA has seized the entire 169 mile (271 km) long Myanmar-Bangladesh border after it besieged the remaining military outpost at the No. 5 Border Guard Police battalion in Maungdaw Township on Dec. 8. It also seized the Western Regional Military Command (RMC) headquarters in Ann Township on Dec. 20.
“I told [regime minister Than Swe] that the Myanmar border is not under your control. The border has come under the control of non-state actors. As a state, we cannot get involved with non-state actors. So, they have to see in what way to solve the border and Rohingya problems,” added Md. Touhid Hossain.
The interim government of Bangladesh led by Muhammad Yunis is seeking international support to assist the estimated 1.2 million Rohingya living in refugee camps in the country’s southeastern Cox’s Bazar district.
Despite refugee repatriation agreements signed in 2018 between the previous Bangladesh government under Sheikh Hasina and the regime under Min Aung Hlaing in Myanmar, no Rohingya have officially returned to their homes in northern Arakan State.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan requested an arrest warrant for Min Aung Hlaing on Nov. 27, citing alleged crimes against humanity for the forced deportation of over 700,000 Rohingya in 2016-17 following the military’s “security clearance operations” which were labeled as genocide by the U.S. government in 2022.
