The United Nations Refugee Agency now reports that more than 420,000 people have fled Burma (also known as Myanmar) since August 24. The refugees, mostly Rohingya Muslims, crossed into Bangladesh to escape the violence in Burma's western Rakhine state—a situation the U.N. now describes as ethnic cleansing. Bangladeshi authorities are being overwhelmed by the new arrivals, and those crammed into the rain-soaked official and makeshift refugee camps are becoming desperate for food, water, and other basic needs. The refugees fled their homes in Burma after a series of Rohingya insurgent attacks on Burmese police last month were met with a strong government response and the burning of thousands of Rohingya homes. The Rohingya are a stateless Muslim minority living in parts of a hostile and overwhelmingly Buddhist Burma.
Southeast Asia's Rohingya Refugee Crisis Reaches a Terrible Peak
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Rohingya refugees wait to receive aid in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, on September 21, 2017. More than 420,000 people have fled the violence in Burma since August 24, according to the United Nations. #
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Smoke is seen on Burma's side of border as an exhausted Rohingya refugee woman is carried to the shore after crossing the Bangladesh-Burma border by boat through the Bay of Bengal in Shah Porir Dwip, Bangladesh, on September 11, 2017. #
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Young Rohingya Muslims stand on a slope and stretch their arms out to receive food being distributed near Balukhali refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, on September 20, 2017. #
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Rohingya Muslims, who crossed over from Burma into Bangladesh, wait during distribution of food items near the Kutupalong refugee camp in Bangladesh on September 19, 2017. #
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Rohingya Muslims, who crossed over recently from Burma into Bangladesh, stand in a line to receive food being distributed near the Balukhali refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, on September 19, 2017. #
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A Rohingya Muslim man, Mohammad Zakaria, who sustained bullet injuries to his left leg when Burmese monks and soldiers attacked his village, waits for food aid outside the Balukhali refugee camp in Bangladesh on September 17, 2017. #
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A man struggles to carry supplies across a stream as the monsoon rains continue to make life miserable for the displaced Rohingya on September 17, 2017, in Kutupalong, Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. #
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An exhausted Rohingya refugee woman touches the shore after crossing the Bangladesh-Burma border by boat through the Bay of Bengal in Shah Porir Dwip, Bangladesh, on September 11, 2017. #
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Shaheda, a 40-year-old Rohingya refugee woman who said her body was burned when the Burmese army set fire to her house, receives treatment at the Cox's Bazar District Sadar Hospital in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, on September 19, 2017. #
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Rohingya Muslim women, who crossed over from Burma into Bangladesh, hold their children as they wait to receive aid near the Balukhali refugee camp in Bangladesh on September 21, 2017. #
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Rohingya Muslims, who crossed over recently from Burma into Bangladesh, stand in lines to receive food being distributed near the Balukhali refugee camp in Cox's Bazar on September 19, 2017. #
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