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Welcome no more: Rohingya face backlash in Bangladesh
Rohingya refugee Noor Kamal found a sympathetic welcome in Bangladesh five years ago -- but now, the hostility he faces has left him pondering a dangerous return home.
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In this picture taken on September 29, 2022, Rohingya refugees gather outside a relief supplies distribution point at Kutupalong refugee camp in Ukhia. (AFP/Munir uz zaman)
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ohingya refugee Noor Kamal found a sympathetic welcome in Bangladesh when he fled the soldiers rampaging through his village -- but five years later, the hostility he now faces has left him pondering a dangerous return home.
Much has changed in the time since he and 750,000 other members of the stateless Muslim minority escaped neighbouring Myanmar, the survivors of a horrific crackdown now subject to a UN genocide probe.
Back then, thousands of Bangladeshis, outraged by the anti-Muslim violence across the border, trekked from across the country to distribute food and medicine to the shell-shocked arrivals.
But public attitudes have hardened after years of fruitless efforts to negotiate a safe return for the Rohingya, with media outlets and politicians regularly condemning refugees as drug runners and terror threats.
"There is so much hatred among local people and the press here that I worry it may trigger violence at any time," Kamal told AFP from his home in Bangladesh's sprawling border relief camps.
"It's better we return home even if it means we have to face bullets. If we die, at least we will be buried in our motherland."
Bangladesh has struggled to support the immense refugee population -- while there is financial assistance from the UN refugees body and other humanitarian organisations, Dhaka still faces huge administrative challenges in hosting the camps.
