13 February 2017•Update: 14 February 2017
By Mainul Islam Khan
DHAKA, Bangladesh
A Malaysian cargo ship carrying relief for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh arrived on Monday, Chittagong Port spokesman Jafar Alam told Anadolu Agency.
The Nautical Aliya has 16 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) containers.
“Bangladesh’s Foreign Secretary for Maritime Rear Admiral Khurshed Alam and the Malaysian ambassador will present [the aid] in a ceremony,” said Alam.
The aid will go to Teknaf, Cox’s Bazar, where the Rohingya camps are based, for distribution.
Malaysia sent the ship carrying 2,300 tons of humanitarian goods to help the persecuted Rohingya Muslim minority community.
Due to a recent crackdown in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, nearly 70,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh and taken shelter in various camps in Teknaf.
The Rohingya have been fleeing to Bangladesh for the last several decades due to persecution in their state. According to a 2015 UNHCR factsheet, at least 32,000 registered and 200,000-500,000 unregistered/undocumented Rohingya are living in Bangladesh, mostly in Cox’s Bazar.
- UN official due in Teknaf
Yanghee Lee, a UN special rapporteur on human rights, is scheduled to visit Bangladesh’s Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazar on Feb. 18 to observe their conditions during a three-day visit.
According to a Bangladeshi daily, Lee is scheduled to visit Thengar Char, an island where the Bangladeshi government plans to relocate Rohingya refugees.
