Thousands of Myanmar's ethnic Muslims could face indefinite detention under a new government plan.
The plan requires the Rohingya Muslim minority to register as Bengalis or be detained. Under the draft plan, officials in the volatile Rakhine State will have to build camps for those Rohingya Muslims who refuse to register as immigrants from Bangladesh. Those minority Rohingyas, who don’t have proper documents, will also be sent to the detention camps. The Yangon government says those who accept the new classification will be given citizenship. But according to local Rakhine State official, even those who receive Myanmarese citizenship won’t be able to enter a Rakhine village. Rohingya Muslims have been living in Rakhine for generations. But, Myanmar says they don’t belong there.