Myanmar's government has said it is
not responsible for the migrant boat crisis in south-east Asia, and may
not attend an emergency summit on the issue.
Thousands of migrants
from Bangladesh and Myanmar are feared stranded in boats in the Andaman
Sea after their crews deserted them.
Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand have been turning away migrant boats.
Survivors have described desperate conditions on the boats, with people thrown overboard amid fights for food.
Rohingya
Muslims have been leaving Buddhist-majority Myanmar, also known as
Burma, because they are not recognised as citizens and face persecution.
Many of the Bangladeshis at sea are thought to be economic migrants.
The
BBC's Jonah Fisher in Bangkok says there are at least five
people-smuggling boats, carrying up to 1,000 migrants, moored just off
the northern coast of Myanmar near the maritime border with Bangladesh.
The
crackdown on boat people landing in Thailand and Malaysia means the
smugglers are reluctant to make the journey but our correspondent says
they are refusing to release those on board unless ransoms are paid.
Thailand is hosting a meeting on 29 May for 15 countries to discuss ways to address the crisis.
However,
Zaw Htay, director of Myanmar's presidential office, said his leaders
would not attend if the word "Rohingya" was used in the invitation, as
they did not recognise the term.
"We are not ignoring the migrant
problem, but... we will not accept the allegations by some that Myanmar
is the source of the problem," he told the Associated Press news agency.
"The
problem of the migrant graves is not a Myanmar problem, it's because of
the weakness of human trafficking prevention and the rule of law in
Thailand," he said in a separate interview with AFP. At the scene: Jonathan Head, BBC News, southern Thailand
It
is being called human ping-pong - the refusal of south-east Asian
countries to accept mainly Rohingya migrants from Myanmar, and their
navies' policy of pushing boats back into each other's territory.
So the boat we found on Thursday, which had already been pushed back
once from Malaysia, into Thailand, was then pushed back again by the
Thai navy. At the time of writing it lies just inside Malaysian waters.
They tell us it will now be towed to a fourth country, perhaps
Indonesia.
On board, more or less running the boat, are Rohingya
brokers, who have good reason not to want to land in Thailand, where an
anti-trafficking operation is underway.
Thai officers are
negotiating with these men, who claim to speak for all 350 on board. So
the Thais say they were merely helping by repairing the engine and
sending the boat on its way.
But what about the women and children
on board - more than half the passengers? What about all the visibly
ill people, or those who look half-starved? How can an endless sea
voyage in an appallingly cramped and unsanitary boat help them? Thai and
Malaysian officials are not saying. Why are so many stranded at sea? Myanmar's unwanted people Close
to 800 migrants were rescued after their boat sank on Friday near
Langsa in Indonesia's Aceh province, after being pushed back from both
Indonesia and Malaysia's coasts.
The boat had reportedly been at sea for two months and was recently deserted by its crew.
The Rohingya and Bangladeshi migrants on board began fighting over dwindling food supplies, survivors said.
"They were killing each other, throwing people overboard," Langsa police chief Sunarya told AFP.
Rohingya Muslims attempt to flee Myanmar every year during the
non-monsoon season, but the smugglers who take them to Thailand have
been scared by a recent Thai crackdown.
Instead they are reported
to have been abandoned at sea. The numbers involved are unclear but
rights group say thousands are thought to be stranded.
Who are the Rohingyas?
Rohingyas are a distinct, Muslim ethnic group mainly living in Myanmar, which is also known as Burma
Thought to be descended from Muslim traders who settled there more than 1,000 years ago
Also live in Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan
In Myanmar, they are regularly persecuted - subjected to forced labour, have no land rights, and are heavily restricted
In Bangladesh many are also desperately poor, with no documents or job prospects
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