Several people are missing after the incident in the Naf River late on Sunday. It is thought up to 100 people – including children – were on board.

A rescue operation is now under way.

Dozens of Rohingya have already died trying to cross into neighbouring Bangladesh amid a military crackdown in Myanmar’s Rakhine state.

The exact number of people onboard the boat which capsized on Sunday remains unclear, with Bangladesh border guard officials giving estimates varying from 40 to up to 100.

Officials say the bodies of 10 children, a woman and a man have been recovered so far.

It was the latest in a series of deadly incidents involving boats carrying Rohingya migrants to Bangladesh. About 60 people were believed to have died in a similar incident in late September.

While many have fled via the land border, others have attempted to make the crossing by sea in small and rickety fishing boats.

“So many people are still willing to get onboard boats that are overcrowded, potentially people unable to swim. They’re literally putting their lives at risk to make it across to Bangladesh,” said Evan Schuurman, a spokesman with aid agency Save the Children.

It was the latest in a series of deadly incidents involving boats carrying Rohingya migrants to Bangladesh. About 60 people were believed to have died in a similar incident in late September.

While many have fled via the land border, others have attempted to make the crossing by sea in small and rickety fishing boats.

“So many people are still willing to get onboard boats that are overcrowded, potentially people unable to swim. They’re literally putting their lives at risk to make it across to Bangladesh,” said Evan Schuurman, a spokesman with aid agency Save the Children.

It was the latest in a series of deadly incidents involving boats carrying Rohingya migrants to Bangladesh. About 60 people were believed to have died in a similar incident in late September.

While many have fled via the land border, others have attempted to make the crossing by sea in small and rickety fishing boats.

“So many people are still willing to get onboard boats that are overcrowded, potentially people unable to swim. They’re literally putting their lives at risk to make it across to Bangladesh,” said Evan Schuurman, a spokesman with aid agency Save the Children.

The military has been widely accused of conducting ethnic cleansing and genocide, but it has rejected all these allegations, saying it has only targeted Rohingya militants.

Other communities in Rakhine state such as Hindus have also been affected by violence, some allegedly committed by Rohingya militants. But correspondents say that the widespread reports of abuse of Rohingya indicate that they have been disproportionately affected.
–
By: BBC

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The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (Arsa) announced a truce on Sunday, urging Myanmar’s army to lay down weapons as well.

But government spokesman Zaw Htay said Myanmar would not negotiate with “terrorists”.

About 294,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh since violence erupted in Rakhine state last month.

Arsa attacked several police posts on 25 August, killing 12 people. In turn, this prompted a counter-insurgency clampdown from the security forces.

Rohingya residents – a stateless, mostly Muslim minority in Buddhist-majority Myanmar – say the military and Rakhine Buddhists are waging a brutal campaign against them, burning their villages.

Myanmar rejects this, saying its military is fighting against Rohingya “terrorists”.

Arsa announced the ceasefire on Twitter, saying it was “in order to enable humanitarian actors to assess and respond to the humanitarian crisis” in Rakhine.

The group “strongly urges the Burmese [Myanmar] government to reciprocate this humanitarian pause”, the statement added.

However, Zaw Htay, a spokesman for the government, tweeted on Sunday: “We have no policy to negotiate with terrorists.”

Meanwhile authorities in Bangladesh say they are struggling to cope with the influx of Rohingya with the country’s foreign minister Mahmood Ali describing the violence in Myanmar as genocide.

The Rohingya arriving to Bangladesh are living in makeshift camps and despite efforts by both international aid agencies and local volunteers, water, food and medicines are in short supply.

Responding to fights and aid trucks being besieged by desperate Rohingya, Bangladesh has deployed extra police and soldiers in the area.

–

Source: BBC

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Cocoa smuggling between the world’s two biggest cocoa producers is common, but over the past decade it has mainly involved Ivorian beans being taken illegally to Ghana.

That has changed this season.

Ghana’s cedi currency, which the government has struggled to prop up, has fallen nearly 23 percent against the dollar so far this year, while Ivory Coast’s euro-pegged CFA franc has remained stable, making the country’s official farmer price around 24 percent higher than Ghana’s.

Exporters said the Ivorian price is now seen as more attractive by Ghanaian farmers, who can make bigger profits selling their output to smugglers.

“(The smuggling) is due primarily to the weakness of the currency in Ghana,” said Edward George, head of soft commodities research at Ecobank.

George said he had spoken to private sector representatives in Ghana as well as officials from Ghana’s marketing board, Cocobod.

“The lowest estimate we heard was 60,000 tonnes. The highest was 100,000 tonnes, and that was from Cocobod,” he said.

Cocobod spokesman Noah Amenya confirmed smuggling was taking place but said the organisation did not have any figures.

“We are supporting the local authorities and the various task forces to fight the smugglers,” he told Reuters.

Estimates of smuggled volumes obtained by Reuters from four European traders ranged from 40,000 to 80,000 tonnes of beans, while exporters in Ivory Coast put the figure at between 50,000 and 60,000 tonnes.

Bean arrivals at Ivorian ports reached around 1.3 million tonnes by May 11, according to exporters’ estimates, up more than 10 percent from the same time last season.

“Smuggling likely to continue”

Ivory Coast’s October-to-March main crop opened on Oct. 2 with its sector regulator, the CCC, fixing a minimum guaranteed farmer price of 750 CFA francs ($1.59) per kg. Ghana’s price of 3,392 cedis per tonne was roughly on par with Ivory Coast’s at the time.

Despite the beans lost to smuggling, Ghanaian cocoa output still remains more than 15 percent ahead of last year’s levels with purchases reaching 704,266 tonnes by April 8 since the start of the main crop.

But Ivory Coast decided to maintain its farmer price at the main crop level of 750 CFA francs/kg for April-to-September mid-crop cocoa, which is usually sold at a discount.

This in turn could further fuel illegal trafficking as Ghana heads towards its light crop in July unless they raise the price, analysts said.

“Looking forward, it depends what happens to the farmer price because a depreciating cedi means Ghana should be able to increase their price by more (than Ivory Coast), to where it should be in dollar terms,” said a European analyst who declined to be named.

Source: Reuters

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