REUTERS, Jakarta

Over 130 Rohingyas landed on the shores of Indonesia’s Aceh province yesterday, an official at the UN refugee agency said, the latest in a series of such arrivals that have drawn controversy in the Southeast Asian country.

The Rohingya, a persecuted religious minority in Myanmar, have faced rejection and hostility from locals in Aceh when they land ashore. Nearly 2,000 of them have arrived since October last year, UNHCR data showed.

Faisal Rahman, protection associate at the UNHCR in Indonesia, said over 130 Rohingya arrived in the East Aceh area yesterday morning.

For years Rohingyas have been leaving Myanmar, where they are generally regarded as foreign interlopers from South Asia, denied citizenship and subjected to abuse.

They often travel by rickety boats to escape poor conditions there or in camps in neighbouring Bangladesh. Some travel to Indonesia and Malaysia between November and April, when the seas are calmer. In Indonesia, they have faced hostility.

Meanwhile, Britain yesterday imposed sanctions on military units and enterprises involved in what it said were “serious human rights violations” and the repression of civilians in Myanmar.