A refugee official claims that Rohingya may have reached Bangladesh during recent conflict in Myanmar

DHAKA (Reuters): According to a prominent refugee official, rising violence in western Rakhine state of Myanmar may have encouraged some Rohingya Muslims to flee into Bangladesh, despite Dhaka’s insistence that it cannot take in any more migrants from its war-torn neighbour.

For decades, Rohingya have been persecuted in Buddhist-majority Myanmar. In 2017, a military-led crackdown on the minority group in Rakhine forced many of them to flee to Bangladesh.

The Bangladeshi official in charge of repatriation and refugee help, Mohammed Mizanur Rahman, stated that his office has heard of Rohingya crossing over to increase the number of people living in camps for refugees in the Cox’s Bazar region to around a million.

Rahman told Reuters that some migrants have entered Bangladesh through different routes and have sought safety in different locations. Rahman is a resident of the southeast coastal region. “I believe some people are being allowed to enter unofficially.”

After the Arakan Army (AA), one of Myanmar’s most potent ethnic groups, and the ruling junta collapsed late last year, fighting has returned to Rakhine.

When Reuters called the AA and the junta to request comment, their spokespeople did not pick up.

In a national rebellion that has left the junta at its weakest since seizing power in a coup in 2021, the AA has taken control of nine strategic towns in the coastline region and has continued its push to seize further territory.