Cox's Bazar: Rohingya refugees protest on crackdown anniversary

Thousands of Rohingya refugees staged protests for "justice" Saturday on the first anniversary of a Myanmar military crackdown that forced them to flee to camps in Bangladesh.

Around 900,000 of the Muslim minority poured across the border after attacks by the Myanmar military and Buddhist groups that the United Nations has likened to ethnic cleansing.

More than 15,000 gathered in the morning on a hilltop in the Kutupalong refugee camp, part of a sprawling web of settlements in Cox's Bazar that are now home to the Rohingya who have fled Myanmar.

Men, women and children, praying they can return to their homes in Myanmar and demanding justice for their dead relatives and neighbours, held peaceful marches and attended rallies chanting: "We want justice from the UN." 

At the Kutupalong camp, a giant banner proclaimed: "Never Again: Rohingya Genocide Remembrance Day. 25 August, 2018." Some wore bandanas emblazoned with the slogan "Save Rohingya" while others waved flags.

More marches and gatherings were planned across what has become the world's biggest refugee camp, activists said.

Rohingya militants' attacks on Myanmar police posts on August 25 last year sparked a bloody crackdown in Rakhine state where the Rohingya trace their ethnicity. Nearly 7,000 Rohingya were killed in the first month alone, according to Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF).

Refugees fled the region, arriving in Bangladesh on foot or in flimsy boats. Many brought horrific stories of rape, brutality, torture and villages burned to the ground. Refugees have shared stories which suggest the systematic elimination of Rohingya men.

Myanmar authorities have insisted their forces only targeted insurgents. They have made an agreement with Bangladesh to repatriate refugees but only a handful have gone back.

Rohingya leaders insist the exiles will not return home unless their safety is guaranteed.

No home, no hope

Myanmar's civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi this week said it was up to Bangladesh "to decide how quickly" repatriation of the refugees can be accomplished and insisted the "terrorist threat" posed by Rohingya militants remains "real and present".

The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, which has been blamed for attacks on the army in Myanmar, issued an anniversary statement in which it condemned Myanmar's "terrorist government and genocidal military".

Mohammad Hossain, a 40-year-old protester at Kutupalong, said: "We are here remember to August 25. We want justice.

"We want them (Myanmar) to recognise us as Rohingya. We are very sad because we are not in our native land."

The Rohingya were stripped of their citizenship decades ago by Myanmar and have been hunted from the country in successive convulsions of violence. About 300,000 were already in camps in the camps in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar district and the latest arrivals pushed numbers close to one million.

Abdul Malek, a 27-year-old refugee who fled an attack on his village last year, said the plight of the Rohingya was far from over.

"This one year is just the beginning of many more to follow," he said.

The Rohingya and aid agencies are most worried about the uncertain future of the refugees, who are stateless and seemingly unwanted in Bangladesh while conditions in their Rakhine homeland remain dangerous.

Access to health care and freedom of movement remain out of reach for the Rohingya left in Rakhine.

And the Rohingya exodus from western Myanmar continues today, with refugees still trickling over the border throughout this year. Bangladesh has been accused by the UN of creating conditions which would force refugees to not settle in their country, with the UNICEF recently warning Rohingya children could be a lost generation without access to education in camps.

The UN and international rights groups say conditions are not ready for their return home in Myanmar.

"It may be decades until they can safely return to Myanmar, if ever," said MSF head of mission in Bangladesh Pavlo Kolovos in a statement.

Calls have mounted for Myanmar's military to be held responsible for the campaign, with security forces accused of torture, rape and murder.

The US has sanctioned two army brigades and several commanders who oversaw the expulsion.

There have been calls for an International Criminal Court inquiry but Myanmar has bristled at international criticism.

Humanitarian agencies spearheading the relief effort in Bangladesh say just one third of the roughly $1 billion needed for the refugees until March has been raised.