Introduction: "The monsoon season in South and Southeast Asia brings catastrophes to these regions every year. Storms, cyclones and floods are yearly events which bring about loss of crops and lives and heavy human migrations, particularly in certain areas. At such a time in the year 1991, news of Muslims fleeing from Arakan (Rakhine State of Burma) to Bangladesh broke out. The Burmese Army as well as the Bangladeshi Army posted along the Arakan- Bangladesh border was increased, and both sides accused each other of violating the peaceful co-existence of neighbours. Consequently, the issue of military abuses against the "Rohingyas" in Arakan was raised. This was vehemently denied by the military government in Rangoon (Yangon). They stated that Burmese immigration authorities were undertaking a routine check of illegal immi grants along the country?s different borders and claimed that most of the "Rohingyas" were illegal immigrants or new settlers coming from overpopulated Bangladesh because of natural catastrophes, hunger and other reasons. This was also vehemently denied by the Bangladeshi authorities. In the mean time, the number of people on the Bangladeshi side grew so that in December 1991 some newspapers reported t hat about 200,000 (two hundr ed thousand) were already concentrated there. However, the number of refugees according to Bertil Lintner was nearly 20,000 (twenty thousand)2. It can not be ruled out becaus e of printing error one zero was not there (by Bertil Lintner) and therefore, it became twenty thousand instead of two hundred thousand..."