Refugee death highlights Myanmar mine use

By AFP
26 October 2020
Refugee death highlights Myanmar mine use
 (File) A Rohingya refugee children’s plays on the makeshift camp in Ukhia, Cox's Bazar district, Bangladesh, 30 July 2020. Photo: EPA

A Rohingya boy from a refugee camp in Bangladesh has been killed by a landmine inside Myanmar, camp leaders said Saturday, in a case that highlighted the country's failure to implement an international ban.

More than 160 countries have signed up to a treaty banning landmines, and a monitor group has said Myanmar forces are the only ones known to have deployed mines in 2019.

Mohammad Zaber, 13, who lived in the Kutupalong refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, died Friday in an explosion after going fishing with friends on the border, community leader Dil Mohammad said.

A Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) official confirmed the incident took place inside Myanmar.

The International Campaign to Ban Landmines has said Myanmar -- which has not signed the 1997 ban treaty -- was the only country where the use of new antipersonnel mines had been documented in recent years.

© AFP