Ukhia, Bangladesh, Nov 8
The end of the cyclone season comes as a relief to most Rohingya in Bangladesh’s Kutupalong refugee camp. But not Noor Alom, who had been searching for his six-year-old daughter for two days. Fatima left their home, which sits near three putrid latrines, to play on a nearby hillside – and never came back.
“Nobody has any news about her,” Alom told the Thomson Reuters Foundation after another exasperating search in the blistering heat, his wife rocking on the floor beside him. “I am so worried that someone has sold her and taken her to another place,” he said. “People told me that it occurs here.” His fears are not misplaced.
The United Nations (U.N.) says trafficking networks already exist in southern Bangladesh’s sprawling camps, which have been overwhelmed by the arrival of more than 600,000 Rohingya fleeing Myanmar over the last two months.
It says killings, arson and rape of Rohingya Muslims by troops and ethnic Rakhine Buddhist mobs since Aug. 25, in response to coordinated Rohingya insurgent attacks on security posts, amount to a campaign of ethnic cleansing.
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