Authorities in Dhaka have demanded that Myanmar repatriate tens of thousands of Rohingya Muslims who crossed the border to escape what they say is persecution, and are now living illegally in Bangladesh. Myanmar says it will accept a small fraction of the refugee population now in Bangladesh, but the Rohingya themselves say they are unwilling to go back to Myanmar’s Rakhine state. Refugee community leaders are appealing to “Rohingya-friendly” countries to take them in. Ko Ko Linn, a Rohingya community leader in Bangladesh, told VOA that conditions in Myanmar had become unlivable, particularly in recent weeks, and “they do not want to return to this anti-Rohingya Myanmar.” Rohingyas who fled Myanmar over the past decades live in this decrepit Kutupalong illegal