Rohingya refugees among 114 new arrivals sit in a temporary shelter in Bireuen, Aceh province, Indonesia, March 6, 2022. Antara Foto/Rizawati/via REUTERS

BIREUEN, Indonesia, March 6 (Reuters) – More than 100 Rohingya refugees from Myanmar arrived by boat on the shores of Indonesia’s Aceh province in the early hours of Sunday, an NGO group present at the scene said.

Authorities did not know how long the 114 refugees, including 35 children, had been at sea, but some needed medical assistance upon arrival in Bireuen, Aceh, Nurul Yana Daba, a volunteer with the NGO Aksi Cepat Tanggap.

“A refugee woman has swollen arms and legs and is unable to stand or walk, while a man, perhaps because he’s been at sea too long, is a bit malnourished,” Nurul said.

Mukhtar, a local villager, said Rohingya refugees entered his village asking for help.

“They were asking for protection. We’ll leave that to the government. We welcome them because it’s the most humane thing to do,” he said.

A local official, Alfian, said villagers had prepared food for the refugees but did not expect them to stay in his village for long.

In December, the Indonesian navy rescued more than 100 Rohingya refugees who were adrift on a sinking boat off the west coast of Indonesia. After initial resistance to let them disembark, the authorities relented and then bowed to international pressure to give them refuge. Read more

Indonesia is not a signatory to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention and is primarily seen as a transit country for those seeking asylum in a third country.

More than 730,000 Rohingya fled Myanmar after a military crackdown in 2017 and were forced to live in squalid camps across the border in Bangladesh. UN investigators have concluded that the military campaign was carried out with “genocidal intent”.

Some have fled by sea, sailing to countries such as Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia between November and April when seas are calm. Hundreds of them have come to Aceh at intervals in recent years.

Reporting by Stringer à Bireuen Writing by Fransiska Nangoy Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky

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