VOA新闻杂志2024--Rohingya Men Leaving Refugee Camps to Fight in Myanmar

Rohingya Men Leaving Refugee Camps to Fight in Myanmar

The Rohingya are an ethnic¹ group from Myanmar. They have been displaced from that country and many now live in some of the world's largest refugee camps in neighboring Bangladesh.

Recently, Reuters news agency reported that thousands of Rohingya fighters are coming out of the camps and getting involved in conflicts in the area. Reuters spoke² to people who said that between 3,000 and 5,000 fighters have joined armed groups.

One example is 32-year-old Rafiq who fled Myanmar in 2017. He left a huge refugee settlement in southern Bangladesh in July. He crossed back into the country that he fled with the goal of fighting in its civil war.

Thousands of Rohingya militants⁴ like Rafiq have come from camps with over a million refugees in Cox's Bazar. Aid agencies and individuals told Reuters that recruitment by militant³ groups and violence has increased sharply this year.

"We need to fight to take back our lands," said Rafiq. He spent weeks fighting in Myanmar before returning after he was shot in the leg.

"There is no other way."

The Rohingya in Bangladesh

The Rohingya are mainly a Muslim group. They started fleeing in large numbers to Bangladesh in 2016 because of violence there. The Rohingya are believed to be the world's largest stateless population.

However, a rebellion in Myanmar has gained support since the military seized power from democratically elected leaders in 2021. The rebellion involves several armed groups inside the country. Among them are the Arakan Army ethnic militia⁵ which is active in Rakhine State. Now, Rohingya fighters are joining the fight on the side of the military government.

Shahab Enam Khan is an international relations professor at Bangladesh's Jahangirnagar University. He said that the two largest Rohingya militant groups are the Rohingya Solidarity⁶ Organization (RSO) and the Arakan Rohingya Salvation⁷ Army (ARSA). Khan said they do not appear to have a lot of support in the camps in Cox's Bazar.

But Khan said dissatisfied refugees could be pulled into militant activities and pushed further into criminal activities. That could then involve other countries in the area as well.

Fight for Maungdaw

Rohingya militant Abu Afna took a boat from near the camps to Maungdaw in western Myanmar during the mid-year rainy season. He said he was housed and armed by the Myanmar military government.

"Our main enemy isn't the Myanmar government, but the Rakhine community," Abu Afna said.

The military government provided Rohingya with weapons, training and money, Abu Afna said. It also offered the Rohingya a Myanmar citizenship⁸ card.

Citizenship is important to the Rohingya because Myanmar has long denied the group citizenship in Myanmar. However, in the refugee camps in Bangladesh, they cannot hold jobs.

"We didn't go for the money," Abu Afna said. "We wanted the card, nationality."

A U.N. official and two Rohingya fighters said many were forced to fight in the conflict in Myanmar, including children as young as 13.

Living in fear

In Rakhine state, militants have struggled to push back the heavily-armed and better prepared Arakan Army. But the battle for Maungdaw has continued for six months and Rohingya fighters said they have slowed the rebel offensive.

Bangladesh tried to organize talks between Rohingya fighters and the Arakan Army earlier this year, but they did not succeed.

Back in Cox's Bazar, there is unrest in the camps. The Rohingya militant groups, the RSO and ARSA, are competing for influence. Fighting and shootings are common. People in the camps are fearful, and the fighting is disrupting humanitarian⁹ efforts.

John Quinley is director at the human rights group Fortify¹⁰ Rights. He said violence was at the highest level since the camps opened in 2017. The nonprofit group reported that armed groups have killed at least 60 people this year, while capturing and torturing opponents and using threats "to try to silence their critics."

Wendy McCance is director of the Norwegian Refugee Council in Bangladesh. She warned that money given by international groups for the camps might end within 10 years. She called for refugees to be given the chance to work for a living. If not, there will be many young men without jobs who could join violent groups.

Sharit Ullah is a Rohingya man who escaped from Maungdaw with his wife and four children in May. Now they are in the camps at Cox's Bazar. He said he was struggling to get food. The former rice and shrimp¹¹ farmer said his biggest worry is the safety of his family. "We have nothing here," he said, "We live in fear."

Words in This Story

recruit - v. to find suitable people and get them to join a company, an organization, the armed forces, or the like

disrupt - v. to cause (something) to be unable to continue in the normal way; to interrupt the normal progress or activity of something

1 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

2 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

3 militant   

adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals.一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。
• He is a militant in the movement.他在那次运动中是个激进人物。

4 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

5 militia   

n.民兵，民兵组织

参考例句：

• First came the PLA men,then the people's militia.人民解放军走在前面，其次是民兵。
• There's a building guarded by the local militia at the corner of the street.街道拐角处有一幢由当地民兵团守卫的大楼。

6 solidarity   

n.团结；休戚相关

参考例句：

• They must preserve their solidarity.他们必须维护他们的团结。
• The solidarity among China's various nationalities is as firm as a rock.中国各族人民之间的团结坚如磐石。

7 salvation   

n.（尤指基督）救世，超度，拯救，解困

参考例句：

• Salvation lay in political reform.解救办法在于政治改革。
• Christians hope and pray for salvation.基督教徒希望并祈祷灵魂得救。

8 citizenship   

n.市民权，公民权，国民的义务(身份)

参考例句：

• He was born in Sweden,but he doesn't have Swedish citizenship.他在瑞典出生，但没有瑞典公民身分。
• Ten years later,she chose to take Australian citizenship.十年后，她选择了澳大利亚国籍。

9 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

10 fortify   

v.强化防御，为…设防；加强，强化

参考例句：

• This country will fortify the coastal areas.该国将加强沿海地区的防御。
• This treaty forbade the United States to fortify the canal.此条约禁止美国对运河设防。

11 shrimp   

n.虾，小虾；矮小的人

参考例句：

• When the shrimp farm is built it will block the stream.一旦养虾场建起来，将会截断这条河流。
• When it comes to seafood,I like shrimp the best.说到海鲜，我最喜欢虾。