Floating Island: New home for Rohingya refugees emerges in Bay of Bengal

By Ruma Paul, Clare Baldwin and Andrew R.C. Marshall

DHAKA/BHASAN CHAR/COX'S BAZAR, Bangladesh (Reuters) - Bangladesh is racing to turn an uninhabited and muddy Bay of Bengal island into home for 100,000 Rohingya Muslims who have fled a military crackdown in Myanmar, amid conflicting signals from top Bangladeshi officials about whether the refugees would end up being stranded there.

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said on Monday that putting Rohingya on the low-lying island would be a "temporary arrangement" to ease congestion at the camps in Cox's Bazar, refuge for nearly 700,000 who have crossed from the north of Myanmar's Rakhine state since the end of August last year.

However, one of her advisers told Reuters that, once there, they would only be able to leave the island if they wanted to go back to Myanmar or were selected for asylum by a third country.

"It's not a concentration camp, but there may be some restrictions. We are not giving them a Bangladeshi passport or ID card," said H.T. Imam, adding that the island would have a police encampment with 40-50 armed personnel.

Source: Yahoo News