UN envoy visits Rohingya camps in BD

COX´S BAZAR, Bangladesh: UN human rights envoy Yanghee Lee was on Tuesday visiting Rohingya refugee camps in southeastern Bangladesh, where thousands have taken shelter after fleeing a military crackdown in Myanmar.

Almost 73,000 Rohingya have arrived in Bangladesh since the military unleashed a four-month campaign of violence against the stateless Muslim minority that the United Nations says may amount to crimes against humanity.

The refugees, most of whom are now living in squalid camps in the Cox´s Bazar district which borders Myanmar´s Rakhine state, have brought harrowing accounts of systematic rape, killings and torture at the hands of the military.

Lee, the UN´s Special Rapporteur on the issue, was in the coastal district on Tuesday after holding talks with government ministers in Dhaka about the crisis. There was no immediate comment from the UN, but the Bangladesh foreign ministry said Dhaka had expressed concern over the presence of the Rohingya in the country.

"She (Lee) is now visiting the camps to talk to the refugees," Bangladesh foreign ministry spokeswoman Khaleda Begum told AFP. Myanmar says its army has now halted its operations in Rakhine, which were aimed at finding militants who attacked police border posts.