Most Rohingya migrants in Indonesia refugee camp feared to have fled

Of the 409 Rohingya refugees who arrived on the shores of East Aceh in Indonesia’s northwestern Aceh province last year, only 99 remain in the Bayeun refugee camp, according to a provincial official, as cited by the Kompas news site.

It was not clear where those who have left the camp have gone.

After visiting the Bayeun camp, which lies about 420 kilometers southeast of Aceh’s capital Banda Aceh, legislative councilor Iskandar Usman AlFarlaky said on Tuesday some refugees had tricked the camp guards and fled, while others left at night and crossed a nearby river, possibly on their way to Malaysia.

The councilor was reportedly worried that the migrants would end up victims of human trafficking.

Iskandar urged the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) and the IOM (International Organization for Migration) to help secure a destination country for the Rohingya migrants.

“There must be certainty for the immigrants,” Iskandar said referring to the third country destination for the Rohingyas, a Muslim people from western Myanmar’s Rakhine State.

The occupants of Bayeun are among the thousands of Rohingyas who fled Myanmar last year in rickety boats.

Some neighboring countries reluctantly agreed to provide temporary shelter to the Rohingya, most of whom were fleeing discrimination and violence in Rakhine.

The findings from the Bayeun camp come as former UN secretary general Kofi Annan is Wednesday visiting an IDP (internally displaced person) camp in Rakhine as part of his sixday trip to the country to try and find a solution to the problems facing the Rohingya.

Annan is tomorrow due to speak with Myanmar President Htin Kyaw and Myanmar Armed Forces CommanderinChief Min Aung Hlaing in the capital of Naypyitaw.