COX’S BAZAR, BANGLADESH: The number of Rohingya who have fled violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine state to Bangladesh since August 25 has reached 313,000, a UN spokesman said Monday.
The estimate came from Joseph Tripura, a spokesman for the UN refugee agency.
The United Nations and the Bangladesh government have said the number arriving has slowed down in recent days although the situation is still volatile.
On Sunday the UN said some 294,000 Rohingya had arrived, a jump of only 4,000 from the previous day.
“Many new arrivals are still on the move and residing on the roadsides, and are left out of the calculations due to the lack of comprehensive tracking mechanism,” said a UN coordination report Monday.
The Muslim Rohingya minority community has long been subjected to discrimination in mostly Buddhist Myanmar, which denies them citizenship.
Attacks by Rohingya militants on Myanmar security forces in Rakhine on August 25 sparked harsh military reprisals and an exodus across the border to southeast Bangladesh.
Refugee camps and makeshift settlements in Bangladesh near the border with Myanmar already hosted some 400,000 Rohingya before the latest upsurge in violence, and are now completely overwhelmed.
That has left tens of thousands of new arrivals with nowhere to shelter from the monsoon rains.
Those flocking into Bangladesh have made harrowing allegations of murder, rape and widespread arson by Myanmar’s army.
Most have walked for days and the United Nations says many are sick, exhausted and in desperate need of shelter, food and water.
UN says 313,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh
UN says 313,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh
Macron asks Meloni not to ‘comment’ on France’s affairs after activist remark
- The killing has fueled political tensions in France ahead of municipal elections in March
- Meloni said the killing of Deranque was “a wound for all of Europe“
NEW DELHI: President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday called on Giorgia Meloni to stop “commenting on what is happening in other people’s countries,” after the Italian prime minister expressed shock at the fatal beating of a far-right activist in France.
Quentin Deranque, 23, died from head injuries after being attacked by at least six people last week on the sidelines of a far-right protest at a university in the city of Lyon. Most of the 11 suspects detained are from far left movements, according to a source close to the investigation.
The killing has fueled political tensions in France ahead of municipal elections in March and the 2027 presidential race, in which the far-right National Rally (RN) party is seen as having its best chance yet at winning the top job.
On Wednesday, Meloni said the killing of Deranque was “a wound for all of Europe.”
“Let everyone stay in their own lane,” Macron shot back in New Delhi, on the sidelines of an official visit to India.
Macron also said there was no place in France “for movements that adopt and legitimize violence.”
“Nothing can justify violent action — neither on one side nor the other, and not even in a head-to-head confrontation that is deadly for the republic,” he said.
Macron is “concerned about the situation, which he is closely monitoring,” a member of the French president’s team said earlier Thursday.
“We must avoid any spiral of violence,” they said.
Eleven people — eight men and three women — were taken into custody as part of the investigation into “intentional homicide.”
Among them are two parliamentary assistants to Raphael Arnault, a member of parliament from the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) party, as well as a former intern.
A lawyer for Deranque’s parents said they called “for calm and restraint.”
“The family condemns any call for violence. Any form of political violence,” Fabien Rajon told broadcaster RTL.
On Wednesday, Jordan Bardella, head of the far-right National Rally (RN), accused Macron and former prime ministers Gabriel Attal and Edouard Philippe of boosting the hard-left.
