South Africans to protest in Pretoria against Rohingya violence
The United Nations says at least 370,000 Rohingya people have fled into neighbouring Bangladesh in recent weeks due to the violence.
JOHANNESBURG - Hundreds of South Africans will on Friday protest outside the Burmese Embassy in Pretoria against the plight of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.
The United Nations says at least 370,000 Rohingya people have fled into neighbouring Bangladesh in recent weeks due to the violence.
The South African government has expressed deep concern over the situation.
The Council of Muslim Theologians' Moulana Bham says they hope their protest will put pressure on officials and the world to end the crisis.
“We are trying to bring this to the world’s attention to put some pressure on governments.”
Meanwhile, fishermen caught in the conflict say they have a moral obligation to help desperate fellow Muslims escaping persecution, but Bangladeshi officials have accuses them of profiteering.
For tens of thousands of Rohingya Muslims, an informal fleet of small wooden fishing boats has meant deliverance from what they say is an indiscriminate assault on their villages by the Myanmar army.
Ordered to stamp out what they call human trafficking, they have made arrests and even set fire to fishing boats.
“Of course we want to keep going back to rescue more people. Our Muslim brothers and sisters are in a bad situation, so I have to go and bring them,” said Mohammed Alom, 25, a fisherman in the Bangladeshi village of Shamlapur.
Fishermen and local residents say that authorities have also broadcast messages in their villages by loudspeaker ordering them not to pick up Rohingyas. At least five boats caught bringing refugees in exchange for money have been set on fire on the beach by officials.
Additional reporting by Reuters.
(Edited by Shimoney Regter)
