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BHASAN CHAR, Bangladesh (Reuters) – As a Bangladeshi naval ship docked off a remote island in the Bay of Bengal, some of the Rohingya Muslim refugees on board cheered in anticipation of starting a new life on land that did not even exist two decades ago. .
With poultry and sacks of belongings, they are part of a second group of about 1,800 Rohingya that Bangladesh moved from crowded refugee camps on the mainland to the lower island on Tuesday despite opposition from human rights groups.
“Welcome to Bhasan Char,” read a banner as refugees descended from the island jetty, almost as big as Manhattan. Navy trucks and tractor trailers took them to multiple rows of concrete houses with their tin roofs painted pinkish red.
A Reuters photographer was part of a team of journalists given rare access to the island which is about three hours from the nearest port in Chittagong, and is completely exposed to the vagaries of nature in a country. with a tragic story of deadly storms.
Bangladesh says it has spent more than $ 350 million of its own money on ready-made housing and other infrastructure to voluntarily relocate some 100,000 Rohingya to the island in an effort to ease overcrowding in camps near the Myanmar border, although groups of Human rights said that many were being coerced. or paid to move out. The government denies the charges.
“Mashallah! Wonderful place,” exclaimed a man, a father of six, using an Arabic expression in appreciation for the arrangements at Bhasan Char.
“We are very happy with the accommodation. The children are very excited to see the playground,” he said, but added: “We pray that the floods will not kill us.”
ELBOW TO ELBOW
The government said earlier this month that the house was built on concrete foundations that could withstand natural disasters, noting that it withstood Cyclone Amphan in May, which killed more than 100 people in Bangladesh and eastern India.
A middle-aged man who arrived in Bhasan Char with his wife and three children on Tuesday said the camp leader had convinced him that it was better for them to move than to stay in the dilapidated shelters on the mainland, where a million of them they live side by side.
Reuters is withholding the names of the Rohingya to protect their identity, as some community members are against moving to the isolated island where they will not be allowed to leave without government permission.
The government has built a 2-meter (6.5-foot) high embankment for 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) to protect the island, where sheep grazed on its greenish-gray grass while health workers in white overalls examined newcomers to detect the coronavirus.
Reuters was not allowed to meet with a previous group of about 1,600 Rohingya who were relocated earlier this month, but a Navy van herded journalists through the cemented lanes that separated neat rows of gray-walled housing blocks. with wide porches.
The journalists were also shown an empty room with two steel and plastic bunk beds for four people, a communal kitchen with multiple stoves separated by small concrete partitions, and a freshwater pond. A large white fenced bungalow is reserved for VIPs in case someone wants a visit.
“The Rohingya people who have moved there are very happy with the agreement,” Foreign Minister Abdul Momen told Reuters.
(Additional report from Ruma Paul in Dhaka, written by Krishna N. Das and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
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