Reuters-FEATURE-Myanmar refugees th

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Subject: Reuters-FEATURE-Myanmar refugees threaten B'desh economy

WIRE:June 19, 9:31 p.m. ET
FEATURE-Myanmar refugees threaten B'desh economy

KUTUPALONG, Bangladesh, June 20 (Reuters) - An influx of  Moslem refugess
from military-ruled Myanmar is putting a strain  on the limited resources of
Bangladesh.

Officials say for nearly nine years more than 21,000  registered refugees
have been living in two camps in  Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar district,
bordering Myanmar's western  Moslem-majority Arakan province.

But an estimated 10,000 Myanmar people are staying illegally  outside the
camps, Cox's Bazar residents said.

Local Bangladeshis are resentful. They accuse the refugees  of stripping
forests of trees and competing with local Moslems  for jobs in the fishing
industry.

``They have persistently put pressure on our economy and  taken a share of
the job market,'' said fish trader Mohammad  Shohrab Ali.

Ali said the refugees, known as Rohingyas, are hired for  lower wages by
owners of trawlers that go fishing in the Bay of  Bengal.

Fishing is the prime business in Cox's Bazar and  neighbouring coastal
districts. Illegal logging in local forests  and smuggling to and from
Myanmar offer the other major ways of  income.

Government officials, including the Relief and Repatriation  Commissioner in
Cox's Bazar, Mohammad Borhanuddin, said the  refugees often sneek out of the
camps desperately searching for  work.

LOCAL WOODS SUFFER FROM POPULATION PRESSURE

``They (refugees) are a considerable burden on us ... and  constitute a
threat to our economy and environment. But this is  difficult to quantify,''
Borhanuddin said.

The most visible victims are the forests in Cox's Bazar and  nearby Teknaf
areas. ``The Rohingyas cut them down mainly for  sale in the local markets
as firewood to buy food and other  provisions,'' said journalist Nurul
Islam.

Local Bangladeshis accuse the refugees of theft. But refugee  Sabbir Ahmed,
18, of Kutupalong camp, said: ``We collect wood  from the jungles and give
labour to local people such as farm  hands or fishing crew. Police often
arrest us because they say  we are thieves. But most of us are good
people.''

The Rohingyas who have been migrating to Bangladesh  constitute mostly
economic refugees, repatriation officials  said.


Others include political activists who drew the wrath of  Myanmar's military
by supporting pro-democracy leader Aung San  Suu Kyi and militants fighting
for a Moslem homeland in Arakan.

Borhanuddin accused the Myanmar authorities of dragging  their feet on the
issue of repatriation.

``They are just causing more suffering to us by not taking  their people
quickly. Now only 10-15 people go back every week  while we asked for
hundreds to go home in each of three moves a  month,'' he said.

U.N. DISMAYED AT SLOW PACE OF REFUGEES' RETURN

Christopher Lee, representative of the U.N. High  Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR) in Cox's Bazar, said ``people  are coming (from Arakan) for a range
of reasons including  political differences.''

He said UNHCR's role was to help repatriate the refugees and  make sure the
repatriation was voluntary.

But Lee expressed his dismay over the slow pace of their  return. ``Our aim
was to complete the repatriation (of  registered refugees) by June 2000 but
at the current pace this  looks impossible,'' he said.

More than 250,000 Rohingyas fled to Bangladesh in early 1992  saying they
were being persecuted at home. Their repatriation  began in September that
year under the supervision of the UNHCR.

The process suddenly came to a halt in July 1997 with some  21,000 refugees
still left in Bangladesh. The process resumed in  October 1998 but at a
snail's pace.

``I left Arakan in the early 1990s as the military authority  intensified a
crackdown on supporters on Suu Kyi's NLD (National  League for Democracy),''
said Abul Alam, 26.

``Like me, hundreds of NLD supporters and activists in the  Arakan Moslem
community were forced to leave their homes and  country,'' he told Reuters.

Alam said at least 10,000 Rohingyas now live outside the  camps at
Kutupalong and Nayapara, and the number was rising.

``We are living an inhuman life here (in Bangladesh) but  it's still better
than facing the guns in Myanmar,'' said  Mohammad Mohibullah,'' Alam's
friend and comrade.

Police said the camps also provided shelter to an  unspecified number of
militants from the Rohingya Solidarity  Organisation, the Arakan Rohingya
Islamic Front and the Arakan  Liberation Army.

The groups are struggling to create an independent Moslem  homeland in
Arakan.