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JAKARTA - An Indonesian navy vessel in Aceh drove away a boat carrying Rohingya from Myanmar, a military spokesperson said, as growing numbers of would-be refugees from the strife-torn country face hostility from locals.
The wooden boat was encountered in waters near Weh Island, off Sumatra, military spokesperson Nugraha Gumilar said.
The Indonesian military vessel "shadowed" the vessel, which is believed to be carrying the Rohingya, a persecuted Myanmar Muslim minority until it was outside Indonesian waters and "would not return".
There are no estimates of how many Rohingya were on the boat, Nugraha said.
Indonesia's foreign ministry referred inquiries to the coordinating ministry for political, legal, and security affairs, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Over 1,500 Rohingya have landed in Indonesia since November, according to data from the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNCHR), facing increasing hostility and rejection as locals grow frustrated at the number of boats arriving.
On Wednesday, a large crowd of Indonesian students stormed a convention centre housing hundreds of Rohingya in the Aceh capital, calling for their deportation.
The UNHCR said it was "deeply disturbed to see a mob attack on a site sheltering vulnerable refugee families."
For years, Rohingya have left Myanmar, where they are generally regarded as foreign interlopers from South Asia, denied citizenship and subjected to abuse. They usually leave mostly for Indonesia or neighbouring Malaysia from November to April, when the seas are calmer.
Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim-majority country, is not a signatory to the 1951 United Nations Convention on Refugees but has a history of taking in refugees if they arrive.
Indonesia has urged Myanmar authorities to halt violence against Rohingya Muslims and says it will crack down on suspected human traffickers involved in the latest wave of arrivals.
印尼海軍驅逐羅興亞人運送船隻 - 軍方稱
雅加達- 軍方發言人表示，一艘停泊在亞齊的印尼海軍艦艇驅走了一艘載有來自緬甸的羅興亞人的船隻，因為越來越多來自這個飽受衝突蹂躪的國家的潛在難民面臨當地人的敵意。
軍方發言人努格拉哈·古米拉爾 (Nugraha Gumilar) 表示，這艘木船是在蘇門答臘島韋島附近的水域遇到的。
印尼軍艦「跟蹤」了這艘船，認為該船載著受迫害的緬甸穆斯林少數民族羅興亞人，直到它駛出印尼水域並「不會返回」。
努格拉哈說，目前無法估計船上有多少羅興亞人。
印尼外交部將質詢轉交給政治、法律和安全事務協調部，但該部沒有立即回應置評請求。
聯合國難民機構 (UNCHR) 的數據顯示，自 11 月以來，已有超過 1,500 名羅興亞人登陸印度尼西亞，當地人對抵達的船隻數量感到沮喪，他們面臨著越來越多的敵意和拒絕。
週三，一大群印尼學生衝進了亞齊首都一個容納數百名羅興亞人的會議中心，要求將他們驅逐出境。
聯合國難民署表示，「看到暴民襲擊脆弱難民家庭的庇護所，我們深感不安」。
多年來，羅興亞人離開了緬甸，在那裡他們通常被視為來自南亞的外國闖入者，被剝奪公民身份並遭受虐待。 他們通常在十一月至四月期間大部分前往印尼或鄰國馬來西亞，此時海洋較為平靜。
印尼是世界上最大的穆斯林占多數的國家，不是 1951 年《聯合國難民公約》的簽署國，但有接收難民的歷史。
印尼敦促緬甸當局停止針對羅興亞穆斯林的暴力行為，並表示將打擊參與最新一波抵達的涉嫌人口販運者。
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