Myanmar's navy has carried out its first rescue of a migrant boat,
bringing 208 people to shore, an official told AFP May 22, as it faced
mounting international pressure to tackle a regional migration crisis.
"A navy ship found two boats... on May 21 while on patrol," Tin
Maung Swe, a senior official in the western state of Rakhine told AFP,
adding "about 200 Bengalis were on one of the boats".
"Bengalis" is a term often used pejoratively by Myanmar officials to
describe the Muslim Rohingya minority, 1.3 million of whom live in the
country but are not recognised as citizens.
The widespread persecution of the impoverished community in Rakhine
state is one of the primary causes for the current regional exodus,
alongside growing numbers trying to escape poverty in neighbouring
Bangladesh.
The Thai-owned boat was guided to shore before dawn on May 22 in
Maungdaw township -- the departure point for many Rohingya boats
headed south through the Bay of Bengal.


Photographs on the Ministry of Information's Facebook page showed scores of bare-chested men
crammed into the hull of a wooden fishing vessel as it made land.
The second vessel was empty, Tin Maung Swe said.
"Necessary medical healthcare and foods have been provided" to the passengers at a temporary camp in
Maungdaw, he said.
"All of the 208 on board are from Bangladesh," he added, repeating Myanmar's official line that the
migrants are from over the border.
On May 21 the foreign ministers of Malaysia and Indonesia -- whose countries are destination points for
Rohingya fleeing persecution -- met Myanmar officials as pressures mount to stem the migrant exodus
from its shores.
Earlier this week, Malaysia and Indonesia relented on a hardline policy of pushing back the boats, and said
their nations would accept the migrants for one year, or until they can be resettled or repatriated with the
help of international agencies.

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