Cox's Bazar

So there are so many countries and there's so many stories in each country that you want to keep on telling.

And I think for me, I absolutely totally agree that I'd love to keep on going back to these big topics and say, what's happening now? And I try to do that by bringing together a few topics and if I can't report weekly or monthly, say, on what the aftermath is now of the floods or what is the situation now for the Rohingya in Rakhine State in Cox's Bazaar, is to try and pull some events together and then find a person that can bring in...

so many of these topics or these issues and share their personal story and try and get people engaged again.

Because the other thing is, I try to put out a lot of stories on Myanmar, but if there is not an audience in Australia that's clicking on these stories, that also impacts when we are then planning for the next week and we want to think, okay, well, we haven't covered Nepal or we haven't covered Papua New Guinea, you know, in a while.

Elsewhere, there are indications the US may be deepening its involvement.

Local sources claim the US is contemplating plans to establish a large supply base in Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh to support insurgent groups like the Arakan Army and the Chin National Front.

They also suggest the US could impose a no-fly zone over Rakhine State to neutralize the Myanmar Air Force from supporting its troops on the ground.

Although these claims remain unproven, the focus on Myanmar's western coast makes strategic sense.

been to the great barrow reef and ningaloo reef and i think the fish and diversity is probably better there but the colors of the corals things nothing like the red sea and yeah what stretch of coast you've been to a lot but what stretch of coast would you still like to visit that you haven't been to

yeah i was thinking about this um i haven't been to bangladesh and isn't that the world's cox's bazaar is like the world's longest beach or something like that

Actually, it's not.

And I had a discussion with a colleague of mine, because I'm from Brazil, and the longest stretch of coastline is in Brazil in my hometown, it has about 250 kilometers.

The Brazilians need to market it a bit better.

Yeah, because

I had a discussion with a friend of mine from Bangladesh, and he said it was Bazaar, what's the name? Yeah, Cox's Bazaar.

Yes.

It means that there's always a story beneath the surface, or as my coach likes to say, there's always something happening below the waterline.

So that curiosity about a young girl that I meet in the refugee camp in Cox's Bazaar in Bangladesh you know, elicits an answer from her that's been like, you know, kind of has engine some of my work over the last couple of years or, you know, asking about a couple that fled Venezuela and they're living in Colombia and try to make sense of what their life might look like.

Like real curiosity, not judgment, not presupposing, you know, where they're going with it, but like, What's your motivation? What do you want out of life? Are you happy? Are you scared still? Would you go back to Venezuela if you could? Would you go home to Sudan if you could? Like that curiosity, I think, is what has been maybe a little bit of my superpower that I've just really, really nurtured and grown over time.

And I think it makes me a good fundraiser.

In other news, a fire at a beach resort in southeastern Bangladesh has killed at least ten people, including children.

The fire ignited in the Cox's Bazar district.

That's a popular destination for locals.

According to officials, the fire quickly spread through the three-story wooden resort.

been to Chittagong, but I was very young.

The Cox Bazaar, I'm guessing, the beach.

Oh, yeah, Cox Bazaar, all that

stuff.

Yeah.

Right.

And so this return is not safe and we, we conducted a survey of Rohingya in, in Bangladesh, uh, in the camps where we're working in the east in Cox's Bazar and some 84% of respondents said they don't feel safe returning to Myanmar at this time.

And these folks who are returning from Malaysia, are they going back voluntarily or what does their removal look like?

On the whole it's not a voluntary return and they're at risk not only of direct violence simply because of who they are in Myanmar, but also being f- forced conscription into n- the army or the militia to either side really.

Yes

...

in Cox's Bazar.

Where else are, uh, the Rohingya who've been displaced from Myanmar, and what kind of status do they have?