DHAKA - Bangladesh said on Feb 7 that it will not allow any more Rohingya refugees from Myanmar to enter the country because supporting the huge numbers already there threatens its own security.

Muslim Rohingya have faced persecution in Buddhist-majority Myanmar for decades, and nearly a million of them live in crammed, bamboo-and-plastic camps in Bangladesh’s border district of Cox’s Bazar. Most fled there following a military crackdown in 2017.

Myanmar’s military rulers view the Rohingya as foreign interlopers and have denied them citizenship, leaving Bangladesh with little prospect of repatriating them over the border to Rakhine from the world’s largest refugee settlement.

“We will not allow any more Rohingya to enter the country... they have already become a burden for us,” Mr Obaidul Quader, Minister for Road transport and Bridges, told reporters on Feb 7.

“International aid has been significantly reduced. How long can we support them?”

Several hundred more people, mostly from the Chakma ethnic group and some Rohingya, have gathered on the Myanmar border to enter Bangladesh as fighting between Myanmar’s rebel forces and its junta regime intensifies, said Mr Mohammad Mizanur Rahman, Bangladesh’s refugee relief and repatriation commissioner based in Cox’s Bazar.

Mr Rahman said Bangladesh was “overburdened” by Rohingya.

“It has been seven years, and we have not been able to repatriate them,” he said.

“Keeping Rohingya Muslims in Bangladesh has become a threat to our security, our law and order. It is creating a vulnerable situation for cross-border crime.”

At least 327 border troops and police from Myanmar, some of them with bullet wounds, fled to Bangladesh over the past few days amid escalating violence, said Mr Shariful Islam, a spokesman for Bangladesh’s Border Guard.

Mr Quader said Dhaka was in talks with India and China to ensure that neighbouring Myanmar’s internal conflict does not affect Bangladesh.

The country on Feb 6 summoned Myanmar’s ambassador to protest the escalating border violence that has killed two people, including a Rohingya, on the Bangladeshi side.

Mr Rahman said: “The aid agencies that were providing financial support previously are also pulling back, and it is creating a lot of economic stress for Bangladesh.”

He called on humanitarian organisations like the International Committee of the Red Cross to provide food and medical assistance to those caught in the violence in Myanmar due to the ongoing conflict.

“It will ensure that people do not have to cross the border and come into Bangladesh. It will also reduce the pressure on us,” he said.

The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Mr Quader’s statement.

The agency previously said: “Over the years, Bangladesh has generously provided sanctuary to those fleeing violence.

“UNHCR is in constant contact with the Bangladesh authorities and continues to advocate for civilians fleeing violence to have access to safety.” REUTERS