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Rohingya refugees flee Aceh shelter amid tensions with locals
Based on patterns from previous cases, the refugees might have left their shelters for several reasons, including to reunite with their families in neighboring countries, said UNHCR spokesperson Mitra Salima Suryono.
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Rohingya refugee children receive food donated by the Aceh Ulema Council (MPU) at a temporary shelter in the basement of a government building in Banda Aceh on Dec. 30, 2023, after they were forced out of their previous shelter on Dec. 27 by hundreds of university students opposed to their presence in the province. (AFP/Chaideer Mahyuddin)
T
hree Rohingya refugees ran away from their shelter in Banda Aceh on Tuesday amid heightened tensions between members of the displaced ethnic group and locals in the province.
The three people, identified as Sana Ullah, 22; Shobir Hossain, 19, and Azim Ultah, 19, reportedly fled the basement of the Balai Meuseuraya Aceh building in Banda Aceh at the break of dawn through its back door.
The building is housing more than 120 refugees who landed on Lamreh beach in Aceh Besar regency on Dec. 10, 2023.
“They ran away without taking their belongings. One [identity] bracelet was left inside the building, while the other two may have brought theirs with them,” Banda Aceh Police security intelligence unit chief Comr. Suryo Sumatri Darmoyo said on Tuesday, as quoted by kompas.com.
He was referring to the identity bracelet given to each refugee by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
The police believed the three runaways did not have anyone to pick them up outside the building, as authorities had confiscated their mobile phones, leaving them with no means of communication with the outside world.
As of Thursday evening, the departees were still at large. Suryo said the police believed they were still in Aceh and called on residents to report any information about their whereabouts.
