Bangladesh is building the world's largest refugee camp to house over half a million Rohingya who have fled Myanmar, officials said Thursday.
Refugees who are currently scattered in 23 camps along the border will be transferred to one central camp in Cox's Bazar, Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya, minister for disaster management and relief, said Thursday.
Chowdhury said that all other camps would be closed after the transfer is complete.
"Our target is, Myanmar citizens who came to Bangladesh since 1978, keeping them all in one place," the minister said.
The massive flood of Rohingya refugees reaching Bangladesh since August has brought the total who have arrived since 1978 to more than 800,000. The world's largest refugee camp until now is considered to be the Bidi Bidi camp in Uganda, with an estimated population of 285,000. Kenya's sprawling Dadaab camp has about 245,000 residents.
Meanwhile, the United Nations, which has praised Bangladesh for its generosity in accommodating Rohingya refugees, said Thursday its response plan to the crisis had been revised to $434 million to help more than one million people in Bangladesh — including Rohingya refugees who arrived before August 25 and local host communities.
The Trump administration has also said that $28 million of a total of $32 million promised in aid for the conflict will support Bangladesh.
In recent weeks, more than a half-million Rohingya Muslims have fled Myanmar, where they face human rights violations and discrimination.
Rohingya militants attacked Myanmar security forces in late August. Since then, analysts and rights workers say, the military has carried out a brutal crackdown, burning villages and killing women and children as they fled.
Myanmar authorities say clashes have stopped, but the exodus continues daily by the thousands into neighboring Bangladesh.
VOA's Bangla Service contributed to this report.
