DHAKA, Bangladesh

The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has requested that Bangladeshi authorities provide shelter for more than 113,000 newly arrived Rohingya refugees who have fled Myanmar's escalating armed conflict between the junta government and rebels since November 2023, officials said on Monday.

The fresh influx has pushed the total number of Rohingya sheltering in Bangladesh’s coastal Cox’s Bazar district to over 1.3 million.

The majority initially arrived following a 2017 military crackdown by Myanmar’s armed forces.

“The UNHCR wrote the office of Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner (RRRC) last week to arrange housing for the newly arrived around 113,000 Rohingya,” RRRC Commissioner Mohammed Mizanur Rahman confirmed to Anadolu.

He said the new arrivals are currently staying in makeshift tents, learning centers, and mosques within the camps, as there is no space to construct new housing.

According to the Daily Samakal, the newly arrived Rohingya are members of 29,607 families. Last week alone, 1,448 families crossed the border, along with 5,930 people traveling separately. Most are entering Bangladesh from Myanmar’s Rakhine State via the Naf River or through mountain passes.

The armed conflict between Myanmar’s junta government and the ethnic armed group Arakan Army has intensified in recent months, prompting thousands of Rohingya civilians to flee.

The UNHCR has requested that all new arrivals be provided with shelter, but the Bangladeshi government has not yet responded.

RRRC officials have expressed concern that expanding shelter capacity could complicate future repatriation efforts, potentially encouraging more people to cross the border.

Japan and the International Organization for Migration signed a $3.5 million agreement in Dhaka on Monday to support a comprehensive plan aimed at improving living conditions for both Rohingya refugees and host communities in Cox’s Bazar and on Bhasan Char, an island in the Bay of Bengal.