Rohingya in the crosshairs again

FILE - A Myanmar police officer stands on a road as they provide security at a checkpoint in Buthidaung, Rakhine State, western Myanmar on May 28, 2017. The U.N. human rights office warned Friday May 24, 2024 of "frightening and disturbing reports” about the impact of new violence in Myanmar's northern Rakhine state, pointing to new attacks on Rohingya civilians by the military and an ethnic armed group fighting it. (AP Photo, File)

THE country’s Muslim-minority Rohingya community is once again under threat of attacks and displacement as fighting between a powerful ethnic army and the country’s ruling junta escalates in the western state of Rakhine, according to UN and aid agencies.

Tens of thousands of Rohingya are estimated to have fled for safety towards neighbouring Bangladesh since mid-May, which is reluctant to accept more refugees, and many of those remaining in Rakhine are in dire need of humanitarian aid.