More than 110 Rohingya refugees came ashore in Indonesia’s Aceh province on Saturday after their boat nearly sank, officials from the U.N. refugee agency and local government said, as growing numbers arrive by sea in the Southeast Asian country.
Rohingyas are originally from Myanmar and constitute the world’s largest stateless population. The mainly Muslim Rohingya population usually escape poor conditions in refugee camps on rickety boats to Thailand or Muslim-majority Indonesia and Malaysia between October and April. This is when the seas are calmer.
Rohingyas Rescued
About 400 Rohingya arrived by boat last month in Aceh and North Sumatra province.
Mostly women and children, the Rohingya who landed on Saturday were brought ashore after their boat ran into difficulties, an official from the East Aceh regional government, Syamsul Bahri, was quoted as saying by state news agency Antara.
“They were rescued by fishermen because the boat they were on allegedly sustained some damage and nearly sank,” Syamsul said.
Faisal Rahman, a UNHCR official, said a total of 116 refugees came ashore in East Aceh’s Birem Bayeun district.
Almost 1 million Rohingya are living in camps in Bangladesh in what U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi has called it “the biggest humanitarian refugee camp in the world”.
Refugee Crisis
In Buddhist-majority Myanmar they are regarded as foreign interlopers from South Asia and are denied citizenship and subjected to abuse.
More than 2,000 Rohingya arrived in Indonesia last year, UNHCR data showed, more than the combined total of arrivals in the previous four years.
Indonesia, which is not a signatory of the U.N. refugee convention, has said it has no capacity to accommodate refugees, and some Rohingya have faced hostility in the country as locals become frustrated by the increase in arrivals.
The United Nations’ refugee agency UNHCR has called on Indonesia’s government to ensure their safety.
UNHCR was providing aid to the Rohingya together with local authorities, a spokesperson in Indonesia said.
(with inputs from Reuters)
