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NEWS- Fifteen Hurt in Clashes in Bu



Fifteen Hurt in Clashes in Burmese Refugee Camp

               Reuters
               11-NOV-97

               COX'S BAZAR, Bangladesh, Nov 11 (Reuters) - At
               least 15 people were injured in clashes between
               police and inmates at a camp for Burmese refugees
               in southeastern Bangladesh on Tuesday, police
               said. 

               They said one of the injured was a police officer.
               Others were refugees. 

               The fighting broke out after one group of Moslem
               refugees, called Rohingyas, prevented an attempt
               by others to shelter Burmese ``militants'' in the
               Nayapara camp, police said. They did not identify
               the militants. 

               The Nayapara camp, not far from the Burmese
               border, houses over 12,000 of the 21,000
               Rohingyas which have been awaiting repatriation to
               Burma for years. 

               They were among 250,000 Rohingyas who fled to
               Bangladesh in early 1992 to escape alleged military
               persecution in west Burma's Moslem-majority state
               of Arakan, which borders Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar
               district. 

               Nearly 230,000 refugees had returned home under
               supervision of the U.N. High Commissioner for
               Refugees (UNHCR) before the process was
               abruptly halted last April. 

               Bangladeshi officials said they were discussing with
               Burma's military junta how to resume the
               repatriation process. They gave no details.