More than 100 Rohingya refugees including women and children yesterday landed in Indonesia’s westernmost province, officials said, but locals were threatening to push them back to sea.
The arrival came after more than 1,000 Rohingya refugees landed in Aceh Province last month, the biggest wave of Rohingya refugee arrivals in the country since 2015, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said.
The mostly Muslim Rohingya are heavily persecuted in Myanmar, and thousands risk their lives each year on long and expensive sea journeys, often in flimsy boats, to try to reach Malaysia or Indonesia.
Photo: Reuters
“When I arrived, the Rohingya refugees were already on the beach,” said Dofa Fadhli, the head of Ie Meulee village where the latest group of Rohingya landed.
“The total of the refugees are 139 people. There were children, women and adult men. We have not counted in detail. [We are] waiting for other related parties,” he said, adding that the boat reached the shores of the village in Aceh around 2:30am.
More than half a dozen boats have arrived in Aceh since Nov. 14, and monitors say more are on their way, despite some locals turning arriving boats back to sea and stepping up patrols on the coast.
Fadhli said the latest refugees would be pushed back to sea if they were not relocated, but added they would give them aid in the meantime.
“We, the residents of Ie Meulee, strongly reject the arrival of the Rohingya refugees,” he said. “If within the time limit that we have given until this afternoon, there is no action, then we will return the Rohingya refugees back to their boat.”
UNHCR protection associate Faisal Rahman confirmed more than 100 refugees had landed in Sabang, adding that officials were on their way to the island.
More than 3,500 Rohingya are believed to have attempted the risky journey to Southeast Asian countries last year, the UNHCR said.
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