Bangladesh is asking the United Nations refugee agency to help
repatriate hundreds of thousands of Muslim Rohingyas who have illegally
entered Bangladesh from Burma.
Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Dipu Moni said the mass migration has
caused major damage to the scarce land, forests and other resources in
Bangladesh.
Moni spoke after meeting with a representative of the U.N. refugee
agency. She also urged the Burmese authorities to take back the
Rohingyas.
The Rohingya people have fled Buddhist-majority Burma to escape alleged
abuse and persecution. Burma does not recognize the group as an ethnic
minority and denies them citizenship and other basic rights.
The Dhaka government says there are about 400,000 Rohingyas living in
Muslim-majority Bangladesh, with 28,000 housed in refugee camps near
the border with Burma.
The Rohingyas have also fled to Thailand and other nearby countries.