Bangladesh police force Rohingyas from makeshift camp: MSF

GENEVA (AFP) - Medical charity Doctors without Borders (MSF) on Wednesday condemned an "aggressive and abusive" attempt by Bangladeshi police to forcibly displace Rohingya refugees by destroying and looting their makeshift homes.

"The systematic use of intimidation, violence and forcible displacement against residents of the makeshift camp is absolutely unacceptable," MSF said in a statement.

The charity said that its staff had witnessed the incident at the makeshift Kutupalong camp in the southeastern district of Cox's Bazar, where police and local officials destroyed 259 homes, "looting people's possessions in the process.

"This incident is another in a series of aggressive and abusive moves by the authorities against the makeshift camp dwellers," it added.

Thirty police and local officials on Tuesday moved material from the destroyed homes into a neighboring UN refugee agency camp, according to the charity.

They also warned residents of the camp that they had just 48 hours to clear out before their homes were burnt down.

Thousands of people were already forced to move out in late June from the Kutupalong camp, some through acts of violence, said MSF, which added that it treated many women and children for injuries during this period.

"This vulnerable population has fled persecution and discrimination in Myanmar, only to be left unrecognized and unassisted in Bangladesh," said the group.

Buddhist-majority Myanmar denies the Bengali-speaking Rohingya Muslim minority citizenship and property rights, leading to their abuse and exploitation.

Some 28,000 Rohingyas live in two official refugee camps in southern Bangladesh where the United Nations provides medical care.

The UN estimates up to 300,000 Rohingyas live outside the camps, many of them blending in with the local community.

Bangladesh, which borders Myanmar, has not granted any Rohingyas refugee status since 1992.