Burmese "famine" prompts 5,000 ref

[moe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Subject: Burmese "famine" prompts 5,000  refugees to flee to Bangladesh: report

Burmese "famine" prompts 5,000  refugees to flee to Bangladesh: report

           DHAKA, May 10 (AFP) - Five thousand Burmese Moslem refugees have
           crossed into Bangladesh in the past few days fleeing famine in
western Burma,
           a report here said Saturday.

           The Moslem Rohingya refugees defied tight border security to
enter the
           country because of a "famine" situation in Burma's Arakan state,
the Bhorer
           Kagoj daily said.

           However, the Bangladeshi military, which maintains a heavy
presence on the
           Burmese border, said the report was baseless.

           "The Burmese have mined the border and it is not so easy to cross
over with
           heavy patrols on our side." Colonel Wali Ullah, commander of the
paramilitary
           Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) in southeastern Cox's Bazar district told
AFP.

           "Let them (newspapers) produce 100 to prove they are right," he
said, adding
           that several families who had tried to enter Bangladesh for
economic reasons
           were immediately deported.

           Other Burmese refugees detained over the past few weeks had also been
           deported, he said.

           Ullah said troops were checking all incoming boats on the Naaf
river on the
           border and residents had been warned against sheltering foreigners.

           A 30-year-old Burmese man died in a mine explosion Friday on the
border, he
           said. Two others were also killed in earlier explosions.

           The reports of a new refugee influx came amid continuing
repatriation of
           Rohingyas who fled their homes in 1992 alleging prosecution by
Burmese
           troops. Rangoon has denied the charges.

           Of the 250,000 refugees, 21,800 are still in the process of
returning home.

           A source with links to the World Bank said in Dhaka recently that
a recent
           study made it clear that economic reasons were behind attempts by
refugees to
           enter Bangladesh.

           Aid agencies have poured in millions of dollars to feed Rohingyas
still awaiting
           repatriation under UNHCR supervision.