Dhaka rejects reports over Bangladesh-Myanmar border tension

Oct 11, 2009, 12:14 GMT

Dhaka - Dhaka on Sunday rejected media reports that Yangon was mobilizing troops on the Bangladesh-Myanmar border while erecting a barbed-wire fence along the border.

Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dipu Moni told a press conference, 'Myanmar is constructing the fence in their territory, maintaining international laws.'

She added that the military-ruled neighbour was not violating any international laws in erecting barbed-wire fence along the border line in Bangladesh's south-eastern Bandarban district.

Media reports, quoting unnamed intelligence sources, had said over the weekend that Myanmar had mobilized a huge number of troops to defend the fence construction and had rounded up over 10,000 ethnic Rohingya to drive them into Bangladesh territory.

Responding to a question, Moni said officials at the Bangladesh mission in Myanmar informed her it was a routine practice, not a military build-up.

'I have no information on whether Myanmar's border guards were trying to push Rohingya refugees across the border,' said the minister, who is scheduled to meet with her Myanmar counterpart on the sidelines of Asian Cooperation Dialogue slated to be held in Sri Lankan capital Colombo on October 15.

Tension between two neighbours Bangladesh and Myanmar surfaced in November 2008 when a Myanmar naval ship allegedly intruded into Bangladesh's territorial waters for hydrocarbon exploration in the Bay of Bengal.

Bangladesh, which also sent warships in the bay to counter the alleged intrusion at the time, had managed to defuse tension involving China and Korea in negotiations.

After a break of three decades, Bangladesh also resumed negotiations with Myanmar on maritime delineation in 2008, but a series of discussions have yet to make any headway in the dispute.

The country sent a statement of claim to Yangon and referred the dispute for compulsory arbitration to the United Nations tribunal.