Heavy monsoon rain heaped new misery Sunday on hundreds of thousands of Muslim Rohinyga stuck in makeshift camps in Bangladesh after fleeing violence in Myanmar, as authorities started a drive to force them to a new site. With food and water shortages already making life tough, torrential rain brought back swamp-like conditions to many parts of the border town of Cox’s Bazar which has become a magnet for the Rohingya.
Bangladesh authorities, who have already issued travel restrictions on the Rohingya, launched an operation late Saturday to get tens of thousands out of roadside camps and hillside shanties into a giant new camp. The UN says 409,000 Rohingyas have now overwhelmed Cox’s Bazar since Aug. 25 when the military in Buddhist-majority Myanmar launched operations in Rakhine state. As existing camps are already full with 300,000 Rohingya fleeing earlier violence, many of the Rohingya have been forced to live in the open air or under flimsy plastic sheets.
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