Dozens of Rohingya refugees have landed on Sunday on the shores of Aceh province, the westernmost part of the Indonesian archipelago after a month adrift and after pressure from humanitarian organizations.
The authorities have confirmed that 57 men have landed on the shores of Aceh Besar district, some of them sick. Women and children are not known to be on the boat.
For the moment the local government has not decided where to relocate all these people, reports Antara agency.
These arrivals to Indonesia of members of the Rohingya community, fleeing not only from the religious persecution they suffer in their country of origin, Burma, but also from the horrible conditions of the refugee camps in Bangladesh, are common.
This week, the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has already called on governments in the region to listen to the pleas of 190 people adrift between the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal.
According to UNHCR, these people have been at sea for a month in appalling conditions, without sufficient food and water, while the states of the region look the other way. There are reports that some 20 people are said to have died while waiting to be rescued.
However, it is not known if this boat is the one that recently reached the Indonesian coast, as there would be women and children and the number of people is much higher.
UNHCR’s director for Asia and the Pacific, Indrika Ratwatte, has regretted that many people, including children, have to face these situations. «It is devastating,» she stressed. According to the organization’s figures, this year is «one of the deadliest years on the seas in the region.»
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
