Bangladesh police patrol in front of a Rakhine temple at Teknaf yesterday

A day-old baby and its mother were among the latest Rohingya Muslims fleeing violence in Myanmar to be denied entry into neighbouring Bangladesh, which kept its border firmly shut yesterday.
Bangladesh is under increasing international pressure to allow in refugees escaping communal violence in Myanmar’s western state of Rakhine, but shows no signs of relenting, having turned away boat-fulls of Rohingya since Monday.
A coast guard station chief told AFP the mother and baby, born on Thursday, were doing fine and their boat — carrying another 42 Rohingya Muslims — was pushed back to Myanmar waters, despite warnings about squally weather and rain.
A patrol team intercepted the boat near Bangladesh’s southern-most Saint Martin Island early Thursday but could not turn it away immediately because the boat’s engine was not working, said Lieutenant Badruddoza, who uses one name.
“The group had been kept under the coast guard’s detention in the island on Thursday when the baby was born. Our medical team looked after the mother and the child. They were fine when they were leaving the island,” he said.
Bangladesh border guards meanwhile detained 13 other Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar found hiding in a Bangladesh border village. They will also be sent back home.
“There were five women, six children and two men, one of the men was injured,” Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) area commander Colonel Zahid Hasan told AFP, adding that the wounded man was given treatment.
Since Monday, Bangladesh border patrol teams have turned back 15 boats carrying 728 Rohingya, most of them women and children.
BGB and the coast guard had earlier said the number of boats pushed back to Myanmar waters was 17, but on Friday the number was cut down to 15 as two boats were double-counted.
BGB officials said most of the boats were coming from worst-hit Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine state, where violence between Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims has left at least 38 people dead this month.
Bangladesh has said it won’t allow any new Rohingya refugees to enter its territory as the country has already been burdened with an estimated 300,000 Rohingya who are living in its poor southeast.
The UN Refugee Agency urged Bangladesh to provide a safe haven for the refugees.
“We have first-hand reports of the Bangladeshi security forces turning back arrivals by boat,” said spokesman Andrej Mahecic.
“There are now a number of boats adrift in the mouth of the Naf river” which separates Bangladesh and Myanmar.
“It is vital that these people are allowed access to a safe haven and shelter.” AFP

Dhaka urged to ease block on refugees
The UN refugee agency yesterday urged Bangladesh to provide a safe haven for people fleeing unrest in Myanmar’s Rakhine state after “authorities refused entry to boatloads of refugees.”
“We have firsthand reports of the Bangladeshi security forces turning back arrivals by boat,” said spokesman Andrej Mahecic in Geneva.
“There are now a number of boats adrift in the mouth of the Naf river” with women, children and wounded onboard, he said.
“It is vital that these people are allowed access to a safe haven and shelter.”
“The latest events pose new challenges and UNHCR hopes that Bangladesh will respond in line with the country’s long history of compassion and solidarity.”
Agency workers visiting areas of unrest on Wednesday and Thursday to assess the situation witnessed “smouldering villages”, he said.
“The situation is still tense.”
“We hope that law and order will be re-established soon — that would allow us to redeploy the staff that we had to move from the area temporarily as a precaution.”