TEKNAF, June 11 (AFP): Bangladesh border guards Monday turned back eight boats carrying more than 300 Rohingya Muslims, mostly women and children, fleeing religious violence in Myanmar, a border guard said.
Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and coastguard patrol teams, which have been ordered to prevent an influx of refugees, intercepted the boats on the Naf river that separates the two nations, BGB Major Shafiqur Rahman said.
"There were more than 300 Rohingya in the boats which are coming from the Myanmar city of Akyab (Sittwe). They were carrying mainly Rohingya women and children, many of whom were crying and looked extremely anxious," he told AFP.
"All eight boats have been pushed back to Myanmar territory," he added.
Akyab is the former name of Sittwe, the capital of Myanmar's western Rakhine state where sectarian violence flared last week, leaving at least 17 people dead and prompting the authorities to declare a state of emergency.
An AFP photographer at Teknaf in Bangladesh, near the border with Myanmar, saw smoke billowing from houses believed to be burnt in villages during the sectarian violence.
BGB men handed out water and food to the Rohingyas on the boats before they were turned back, Rahman told AFP.
Security has been stepped up along Bangladesh's 200-kilometre (125-mile) border with Myanmar to stem the influx of Rohingya refugees.
"We have been asked not to allow any illegal entry of Rohingya in Bangladesh. The authorities are concerned that their could be large-scale Rohingya entry from Myanmar," coastguard officer Badruddoza, who uses one name, told AFP.
BGB turns away Muslims fleeing Myanmar
Under pressure from Bangladesh, the Arakan Rohingya National Organization (ARNO) contacted the Karenni National Progressive Party in late August 2002 regarding the possibility of relocating its bases to KNPP-controlled territory on the border between Thailand and Burma. According to a report prepared by Burmese military intelligence, ARNO also sought membership in the Democratic Alliance of Burma, a loose confederation of Burmese insurgent groups now operating on the Thai/Burmese border. KNPP reportedly refused ARNO's request. The DAB also rejected ARNO's application for membership, but has forged a "military alliance" with ARNO, according to the paper. The Burmese also report that ARNO's Chairman Nurul Islam, has received a U.S. visa and is en route to the United States via Saudi Arabia. The facts in the Burmese paper appear plausible. Its purpose is probably to draw a connection between Al Qaeda, which has supported ARNO, and Burmese insurgent groups active on the Thai border.
