Exclusive: Ghana's John Mahama on his planned presidential comeback
Exclusive: Ghana's John Mahama on his planned presidential comeback
Exclusive: Ghana's John Mahama on his planned presidential comeback
Exclusive: Ghana's John Mahama on his planned presidential comeback
Exclusive: Ghana's John Mahama on his planned presidential comeback
Exclusive: Ghana's John Mahama on his planned presidential comeback
Rohingya refugee Syed recently fled Myanmar for the second time, escaping a situation where he was forced to fight alongside the military that had previously driven his family from their homeland.
To protect his identity, his name has been changed.
Syed is one of thousands of young men from the persecuted Rohingya community who have been conscripted into Myanmar's military, intensifying violence against civilians and prompting a new wave of refugees into Bangladesh, which already hosts around one million Rohingya.
“The people there are suffering a lot. I saw that with my own eyes,” he shared with AFP after returning to a relief camp in Bangladesh where he has lived for seven years. “Some are starving, they are dying of hunger,” he added.
In June, Syed was conscripted by a Rohingya armed group operating in the camps and sent to fight against the Arakan Army, a rebel group seeking autonomy in Myanmar. He and other recruits were assigned to support Myanmar troops by digging ditches and fetching water, with no military training provided.
"I was first taken to a police station and kept there. We were afraid, seeing the weapons and seeing the Myanmar military. They are the ones who once oppressed us and sent us here," Syed told AFP.
The UN refugee agency reports that around 14,000 Rohingya have crossed into Bangladesh in recent months as conflict near the border has escalated. Experts estimate that at least 2,000 Rohingya have been forcibly recruited from Bangladeshi refugee camps this year, while many more within Myanmar have also been conscripted.
Those forced into service claim they were pressured by armed groups seeking to gain concessions from Myanmar’s military that might allow for their return home.
Mohammad Johar, a newly arrived refugee told AFP his brother-in-law was killed in a drone strike while they fled the border town of Maungdaw. “Dead bodies were lying everywhere,” he recalled. “The Arakan Army is more powerful there. The Myanmar military can't keep up with them, and it’s the Muslims who are dying.”
Despite the risks, many refugees have no choice but to flee. “After seeing dead bodies, we were scared that more attacks were coming,” said 20-year-old Bibi Faiza, who crossed the border with her young daughter.
