(Lhokseumawe) Around 200 Rohingya refugees have arrived by sea in Indonesia’s westernmost province of Aceh, the UNHCR said on Wednesday, bringing the number of Rohingya arriving in the country to more than a thousand as of during the week.
“The mayor informed us of the disembarkation of 200 people. A team will leave for Sabang in the morning,” Faisal Rahman, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, told AFP.
The Rohingya, a Muslim minority, are persecuted in Burma and thousands of them risk their lives every year during long and costly sea journeys, often aboard makeshift boats, to try to reach Malaysia or the Indonesia.
Local community members said the number could be higher, with estimates of up to 360 refugees disembarking, Rahman said.
Last week, Aceh residents turned away several boats from Bangladesh, saying they could not afford to accommodate the refugees.
PHOTO AMANDA JUFRIAN, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Last week, Aceh residents turned away several boats from Bangladesh, saying they could not afford to accommodate the refugees.
Many Aceh residents, who themselves have endured decades of bloody conflict, have long been sensitive to the plight of this Muslim minority. But some now complain that the arrival of Rohingya is consuming their limited resources and sometimes coming into conflict with the local population.
Mr. Rahman said the agency had asked the mayor of Sabang to find shelter for these refugees.
“The situation on the ground is not good. The virus of rejection has spread to the entire population,” he said. “There’s a good chance they’ll try to push them back out to sea, but let’s hope that doesn’t happen.”
According to the UNHCR, more than 2,000 Rohingya attempted the difficult crossing to Indonesia or Malaysia in 2022 and 200 died or were missing.
Bangladesh is home to around a million members of this stateless Muslim minority, some 750,000 of whom fled Burma in 2017.