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Myanmar police shoot, injure 4 Rohingya in Rakhine state
Four Rohingya Muslims have been shot and injured by police in Myanmar at a camp in the northwestern state of Rakhine.
Two of the wounded are in critical condition, witnesses said on Sunday.
Police have already detained two men accused of smuggling people out of Ah Nauk Ye camp, which is located about 15 kilometers (9 miles) east of Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine.
“People from the camp went out to look and police shot at people,” Reuters quoted Maung Maung Aye, a 27-year-old Rohingya, as saying.
Some 20 police officers entered the camp on Sunday morning, arresting the two men, accused of owning a boat used in the attempt to smuggle 106 Rohingya out of the country on Friday.
Police inspector Than Htay from a nearby station said the Rohingya surrounded them with swords and threw stones at them, injuring some officers.
“I heard that Bengali from the camp tried to grab the arrested people back from the police and police had to fire warning shots. I heard some Bengali got injured. I don't know the details.”
Myanmar does not consider the Rohingya a native ethnic group and calls them “Bengalis,” suggesting they belong in Bangladesh.
Witnesses disputed that version of events, saying the Rohingya did not attack the police or try to grab the arrested men. They also said police fired at residents and not into the sky.
Myanmar's immigration authorities on Friday arrested the 106 Muslims who were heading to Malaysia. Authorities stopped a boat about 30 kilometers (20 miles) south of Yangon.
Thousands of Rohingya have been confined to camps outside Sittwe since violence swept Rakhine in 2012. They are denied free movement, access to decent healthcare and education.
Last year, Solidarites International, an international aid group, warned the conditions at Ah Nauk Ye, home to more than 4,000 Rohingya, were severe. It said the “natural environment” at the camp was “unsuitable to human settlement” and warned of water shortages, poor access to livelihood opportunities and communal violence.
Rohingya repatriation plans pushed back to 2019
Abul Kalam, Bangladesh's refugee relief and repatriation commissioner, said on Sunday that Bangladesh's plans to tackle the Rohingya refugee crisis had been stalled until the new year with repatriation and relocation programs.
The Bangladeshi official said that “a new course of action” needed to be adopted on the repatriation that took into account refugees' key demands.
None of those on the list agreed to return if their demands for justice, citizenship and the ability to go back to their original villages and lands were not met. “I don't think anyone's agreeing to go back without these,” said Kalam, who last week called on the international community to pressure Myanmar to accept certain “logical and acceptable” demands in order for any repatriation to take place.
In late October, Bangladesh and Myanmar agreed to begin to repatriate hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees who fled last year.
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