Rohingya leader killed in Bangladesh refugee camp: Police
| Publisher | Radio Free Asia |
| Publication Date | 19 June 2018 |
| Cite as | Radio Free Asia, Rohingya leader killed in Bangladesh refugee camp: Police, 19 June 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5bb72dd8a.html [accessed 27 May 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
2018-06-19
A Rohingya volunteer guides fellow refugees upon their arrival at the Balukhali refugee camp in Ukhia, a sub-district of Cox's Bazar district in southeastern Bangladesh, Jan. 21, 2018. AP
A Rohingya leader who had criticized ARSA insurgents and often interacted with Bangladeshi officials and visiting foreign dignitaries due to his language skills was slain in a refugee camp in southeastern Bangladesh, police and local sources said Tuesday.
The news came as the Bangladeshi foreign ministry confirmed to Benar News that the U.N. secretary general and president of the World Bank would both visit Rohingya refugee camps in the southeast next month.
Arifullah, a leader at the Balukhali-2 camp in Cox's Bazar district, was hacked to death on Monday, Mohammad Abul Khayer, officer-in-charge of the police station in Ukhia upazila (sub-district), told Benar News, an RFA-affiliated online news service.
"Police are trying to nab Arifullah's murderers," Khayer said, adding that Arifullah had previously received death threats.
Sources in the refugee camp said Arifullah was an outspoken critic of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), the insurgent group that launched attacks against government security outposts in Myanmar's Rakhine state last August, killing at least 12 people.
Myanmar's security forces responded with a brutal counter-insurgency clampdown that engulfed Rakhine in violence and forced more than 700,000 Rohingya to cross the border into Bangladesh.
Arifullah frequently accompanied foreign delegations during their visits at Rohingya refugee camps, local official Mohammad Nikaruzzaman Chowdhury said.
Arifullah's killing underscored infighting that has become common in the refugee camps, camp leaders told Benar News.
Just a day before his slaying, at least 10 Rohingya refugees were injured when two rival groups clashed in the same camp, according to Mohammad Atikullah, officer-in-charge of the police station in Teknaf, another sub-district of Cox's Bazar. Two were in critical condition, he said.
Foreign ministry confirms UN, WB visit
In Dhaka on Tuesday, a Bangladeshi foreign ministry official said that U.N. Secretary General António Guterres and World Bank President Jim Yong Kim were scheduled to visit the refugee camps on July 1.
Khandakar Masudul Alam, deputy chief of protocol at the foreign ministry, said Guterres was expected to meet with Rohingya in Cox's Bazar either on June 30 or July 1.
"He will be accompanied by the World Bank chief during this visit," he told Benar News.
In April, a delegation from the U.N. Security Council paid an unprecedented visit to the Rohingya camps in Bangladesh.
The 24-strong delegation also visited refugees camped out in a no-man's land along the Bangladesh-Myanmar border and later stopped by the sprawling Kutupalong refugee camp.
In November 2017, Myanmar and Bangladesh struck a bilateral deal to repatriate hundreds of thousands of Rohingya. But the process has not yet begun and U.N. officials have expressed misgivings on whether conditions are safe enough for the refugees to return to Rakhine.
During the past two months, meanwhile, the Bangladeshi and Myanmar governments have separately signed memoranda of understanding with the United Nations for U.N. agencies to assist them in the voluntary repatriation of refugees.
Reported by Benar News, an RFA-affiliated online news service.
Link to original story on RFA website
