Members of the Rohingya Muslim community in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, say they are living with an unprecedented level of fear and hopelessness after a massive fire Sunday raced through their refugee camp, and some people are saying the fire was started by "a Rohingya gang."
About 2,000 shacks were burned to ashes and 12,000 people became homeless after the fire at the camp — home to more than 1 million Rohingya Muslims who fled violence and persecution in Myanmar and have taken refuge in Bangladesh over the past several decades.
Several people in the refugee camp told VOA that Rohingya gangs have been fighting with one another and that Sunday's fire was started by some members of the gangs.
"There was a gunfight between two Rohingya gangs that continued in the camp from Saturday night until two or three hours before the fire broke out on Sunday. As soon as one or two huts were set on fire by some people, some refugees brought water. But members of one gang did not allow the refugees to put out the fire — several witnesses reported to us," Htway Lwin, a local Rohingya community leader and human rights defender, told VOA.
"Sunday's fire incident was arson, committed by a Rohingya terrorist gang," Lwin said.
Cox's Bazar police said that several Rohingya reported they had witnessed ARSA men starting fires. ARSA, or Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, is a Rohingya rebel group claiming to fight for liberation of the Rohingya community from oppression in Myanmar.
"Several Rohingya sources have reported that they saw how the ARSA men set fire to the camp and how the group's leaders engineered the arson," said Mahfuzul Islam, police chief of Cox's Bazar.
Mohammad Mizanur Rahman, the refugee relief and repatriation commissioner, told VOA on Friday that there was a possibility of a Rohingya group being involved in Sunday's fire.
"We have set up an investigation committee consisting of several senior officials from different departments, including the police, to investigate the fire incident. We will be able to tell whether it was sabotage by any group after our investigation is over," Rahman told VOA.
Fires a frequent problem
Since about 740,000 Rohingya crossed over to Bangladesh in 2017 following a violent military crackdown against the community in Myanmar, the refugee camp in Cox's Bazar has been overcrowded, with people living in extremely cramped conditions.
Fires have been a big problem in the Rohingya camp where the shacks, made of bamboo and plastic tarpaulin, catch fire easily. Most shacks stand close to one another, and fire spreads quickly across the camp.
On March 22, 2021, a fire ripped through the Balukhali area of the camp, destroying more than 17,000 shacks, killing at least 15 people and forcing about 48,000 people from their homes.
Since Sunday, at least seven incidents of fire — including one Friday — took place in different parts of the camp, many refugees reported. One Rohingya man was caught while he was setting fire to a shack and was handed over to the police, according to Lwin.
Last month a Bangladesh parliamentary defense committee report said that between January 2021 and December 2022, at least 222 fire incidents had taken place in the Cox's Bazar Rohingya camps. According to the report, 99 fires were caused by accident, 60 cases were found to be arson and no reason for fire was found in 63 other cases.
The report added that there were 10 terrorist groups active in the camp that fought violently with one another, and people had been killed. Lwin said that in the past three months at least eight Rohingya had been killed.
Although Bangladeshi government officials say that many fire incidents were arson, they did not link them to any terrorist groups.
However, several Rohingya told VOA that the terrorist gangs fighting over control of different areas of the camp are committing arson.
"Different areas of the large camp are controlled by different groups. One group is setting fire to an area controlled by a rival group. Members or supporters of ARSA set fire to some parts of the camp several times," a 55-year-old Rohingya from Balukhali, who does not want to be identified fearing reprisal from ARSA, told VOA.
"Some Rohingya who tried to put out the fire with water were scared away by some ARSA leaders, armed with guns. We are dead sure, ARSA started Sunday's fire," said the man, whose house was destroyed by the fire Sunday.
Gang rivalry
Rohingya leader Lwin said that arson will continue as long as gang rivalry over the control of areas in the camp exists.
"The police should investigate all fire incidents including the one that took place Sunday and take strict actions against the culprits. The criminal gangs must be eliminated from the camps," Lwin said.
"Otherwise, the poor Rohingya will have to keep paying the heavy price this way by losing everything to fire again and again."
