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Executive Summary for November 29th

We review the latest issues related to refugees, including Bangladeshi border guards turning away Rohingya refugees fleeing Myanmar, Turkey’s purported plans to send 3,000 refugees to Greece per day and the kidnapping of UNHCR staff members in Sudan.

Published on Nov. 29, 2016 Read time Approx. 3 minutes

Bangladesh Turns Away Rohingya Fleeing ‘Ethnic Cleansing’ in Myanmar

Bangladeshi border guards have turned away Rohingya refugees fleeing violence in Myanmar following their arrival in 14 boats over the last two days, according to Agence France-Presse.

“There were 12 to 13 Rohingya in each of the boats,” said Col. Abuzar Al Zahid, head of the Bangladeshi border guards stationed in the border town of Teknaf.

Amid alleged ethnic cleansing campaigns by the Myanmar government, thousands of Rohingya refugees have gathered at the border between the two countries. Despite continued international calls to provide fleeing civilians with safe haven, Bangladesh continues to turn away refugees.

U.N. official John McKissick confirmed to the BBC last week that the Muslim minority is facing “ethnic cleansing” at the hands of the government. The new wave of violence is believed to be in response to a series of coordinated attacks on Myanmar police outposts in October, for which members of the Rohingya have been blamed. The episode, in Myanmar’s Rakhine State, left nine officers dead. Human Rights Watch published satellite images last week showing the destruction of Rohingya villages in Rakhine.

Myanmar officials have rejected McKissick’s comments and filed official complaints with the UNHCR and the BBC, arguing that the allegations are “based on rumors, hearsay and one-sided views which are far from the actual true situation,” according to local Myanmar media reports.

The government continues to restrict access to the U.N., international observers and aid agencies seeking to investigate the allegations.

Turkey’s ‘Secret Plans’ to Send 3,000 Migrants to Greece a Day

Greek intelligence officials claimed they uncovered secret Turkish plans to send as many as 3,000 migrants to Greece daily.

Analysts said that “thousands of dinghies and motorboats” have accumulated along the coast of Turkey, suggesting that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is using the refugee deal as “blackmail” against the European Union in order to continue accession talks.

“No one is underestimating Mr. Erdogan and his unpredictability these days,” Athanassios Drougas, an intelligence expert in Athens, told the Times.

“These plans, along with explicit threats that the Turkish president has made in recent weeks, have Greece’s joint chiefs of staff seriously concerned,” he added.

Over the past days, Erdogan threatened to “let loose a wave of 3 million Syrian and Iraqi refugees” into Europe in response to a freeze in talks over Turkey joining the E.U., according to the Independent.

Drougas added that if these plans were implemented, Greece “will not be able to withstand the shock.”

Three UNHCR Workers Kidnapped in Darfur

Three staff members of the U.N. Refugee Agency, UNHCR, were abducted by masked assailants in El-Geneina, the capital of Sudan’s West Darfur state, according to Reuters.

“The abductees are two foreigners and a Sudanese. They have been kidnapped and transferred from the U.N. vehicle they used to a four-wheel-vehicle, which headed to an unknown destination,” West Darfur government spokesman Abdallah Gar al-Nabi told reporters.

The workers were returning from a mission outside El-Geneina when gunmen approached their vehicle, according to eyewitness accounts. A rescue mission is underway to rescue the captive staff, Nabi added.

Amid high levels of criminality in the region, the newly appointed governor of West Darfur, Fadl al-Mula al-Haga, vowed “to impose the state authority, rule of law and fight against all forms of crime in the state,” according to the Sudan Tribune.

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