The Rohingya are one of Myanmar's many ethnic minorities. They say they are descendants of Arab traders and other groups who have been in the region for generations.
Myanmar's government denies them citizenship and sees them as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh - a common attitude among many Burmese.
The predominantly Buddhist country has a long history of communal mistrust, which was allowed to simmer, and was at times exploited, under decades of military rule.
About one million Muslim Rohingya are estimated to live in western Rakhine state, where they are a sizable minority. An outbreak of communal violence there in 2012 saw more than 100,000 people displaced, and tens of thousands of Rohingya remain in decrepit camps where travel is restricted.
Hundreds of thousands of undocumented Rohingya already live in Bangladesh, having fled there over many decades.
References:
- Myanmar to 'prove' to ASEAN that Rohingya are not indigenous, the Bangkok Post, 14 December 2016 (accessed 4 January 2017)
