(REUTERS): Bangladesh will move 3,000-4,000 more Rohingya Muslim refugees to a remote Bay of Bengal island over the next two days, despite concerns about the risk of storms and floods lashing the site.
According to Navy Commodore Rashed Sattar, the refugees will be moved to Bhasan Char by ships on Monday and Tuesday. Bangladesh says the relocation is voluntary, but some of a first group to be moved spoke of being coerced.
Dhaka has relocated around 7,000 refugees to Bhasan Char island since early December from border camps in neighbouring Buddhist-majority Myanmar, where more than a million refugees live in ramshackle huts.
Meanwhile, the Bangladesh government has dismissed safety concerns over the island, citing the building of flood defences as well as housing for 100,000 people, hospitals and cyclone centres.
Bangladesh has drawn criticism for a reluctance to consult with the United Nations refugee agency and other aid bodies over the transfers. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees said that the agency has not been allowed to evaluate the safety and sustainability of life on the island.
“The process of moving the Rohingya will continue. They are going there happily for a better life,” Mohammad Shamsud Douza, the deputy Bangladesh government official in charge of refugees, said.
Bangladesh has called on Myanmar to move forward the stalled process of voluntary repatriation of Rohingya refugees, as international pressure mounts on the military leaders following a coup, which reduces the refugees’ hopes of returning home.
