The Naf River ( Naf Nodi ; ; ) is an international river marking part of the border of southeastern Bangladesh and northwestern Myanmar.
Geography
The Naf's average depth is , and maximum depth is . Its width varies from 1.61 km to 3.22 km.
It flows into the Bay of Bengal in the Indian Ocean, between the Bangladeshi Cox's Bazar District of the Chittagong Division, and the Burmese Rakhine State.
Historically, Shapuree Island, located at the mouth of the river, has played an important role territorially. It is considered one of the immediate causes for the first Anglo-Burmese War. St. Martin's Island is also at the river's mouth.
River incidents with fishermen and refugees
Regular incidents in which
fishermen and Burmese
refugees are shot at by the
Tatmadaw (Myanmar Armed Forces), and/or refugees fleeing Myanmar are escorted back to Myanmar by Bangladeshi troops have occurred on the Naf River.
These include but are not limited to the following:
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February 1992 — The Lun Htin, A Burmese paramilitary force killed 20 refugees who were crossing the Naf River into Bangladesh.
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24 March 1994 — Members of the Myanmar Army's Western Military Command patrolling the Naf River found a group of Rohingya Muslims fishing in a small country boat. The soldiers tried to extort money from the fishermen, but when they were unable to do so, tied them up with rope and brought them to Balu Khali village in Maungdaw Township.
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8 January 2000 — a three-day skirmish between Bangladeshi and Myanmar border guards amid rising tension over a controversial dam project by Myanmar.
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27 October 2001 — Burmese border troops killed one Bangladeshi man, wounded 2, and abducted 13 while they were fishing in the Naf River.
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22 January 2005 — 70 people were shot and killed when Burmese border guards opened fire on a group of 50 boats attempting to cross the Naf River. The border guards claimed that they believed the boats contained "smuggled rice," implying that their actions, culminating in the mass shooting of unarmed people, were justified.
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June 2012 — thousands of Rohingya people fleeing sectarian violence in Rakhine State sought refuge across the Naf River in the Chittagong Division of Bangladesh,
[Burma: Mass Arrests, Raids on Rohingya Muslims, Human Rights Watch, 5 July 2012] though they were often escorted back by Bangladeshi troops.[
]
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August 2017 — The Border Guard Bangladesh station chief of the Ghumdum border post in Bangladesh accused Myanmar's military of firing on fleeing Rohingyas crossing the Naf River. An AFP reporter counted more than a dozen mortar shells and several heavy machine gun rounds fired by Burmese security forces on the fleeing Rohingyas.
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2024 - 2025 — Arakan Army seized three cargo ships on the Naf River carrying approximately 50,000 bags of goods, including dried fish, betel nuts and coffee, valued at around Tk 40 crore, while en route from Yangon to Teknaf port in Bangladesh.
See also
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List of international border rivers
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List of rivers in Bangladesh
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Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh
External links
