B’DESH SEEKS $250 MILLION FOR ROHINGYAS FROM WORLD BANK

DHAKA: Bangladesh has eased restrictions on aid groups working in refugee camps and sought $250 million from the World Bank to fund emergency relief, officials said on Tuesday, after an influx of more than 435,000 Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar has overwhelmed its border area.

The government NGO Affairs Bureau cleared 30 local and international groups to meet “emergency needs” in camps and said more would follow, Shahdat Hossain, a bureau director, told AFP.

Bangladesh has strictly limited access to Rohingya camps in recent years. It has never given reasons, but the country is sensitive about security and there are fears a Muslim influx could tempt extremist groups.

However, a new deluge of refugees since August 25 has put pressure on the existing camps, which were already home to 300,000 Rohingya Muslims who had fled earlier unrest in Buddhist-dominated Myanmar.

The camps are currently facing dire shortages of food and medicine, while the World Health Organisation warned Monday of a growing risk of cholera.

The aid groups still only have permission to work for two months in the camps around the border town of Cox’s Bazar, Hossain said, and must focus on providing healthcare, sanitation facilities and shelters for the Rohingya.

The new groups include local and international charities.

Authorities previously only let four international groups — including Doctors With Border (MSF) and Action Against Hunger (ACF) — provide food and healthcare.

Muslim Aid, a Britishbased charity given permission to operate in Cox’s Bazar last week but whose access was later revoked, remains barred. It operates in other parts of Bangladesh.

Authorities briefly ordered MSF, ACF and Muslim Aid to stop providing aid to the Rohingya in 2012.

Meanwhile, Myanmar’s UN ambassador insisted Monday that there is no “ethnic cleansing” or genocide taking place against Muslims and objected “in the strongest terms” to countries that used those words to describe the situation in Rakhine State.

Hau Do Suan used his “right of reply” at the end of the six-day gathering of world leaders at the General Assembly to respond to what he called “irresponsible remarks” and “unsubstantiated allegations” repeated by countries in their speeches to the 193-member world body.

He didn’t identify any of the nations, though many spoke out about the plight of more than 420,000 Rohingya Muslims who have fled from Myanmar to Bangladesh since August 25, when Rohingya insurgent attacks on security forces prompted a military crack- down and reprisals by majority Buddhists.

Among those who accused Myanmar of trying to rid itself of Rohingya were Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, UN Secretary-general Antonio Guterres, UN human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad al-hussein, and a number of Islamic countries, including the United Arab Emirates. Suan denied those claims. “There is no ethnic cleansing. There is no genocide,” he said. “The leaders of Myanmar, who have long been striving for freedom and human rights, will not espouse such policies. We will do everything to prevent ethnic cleansing and genocide.”

He called the issue of Rakhine State “extremely complex” and urged UN member states and the international community “to see the situation in northern Rakhine objectively and in an unbiased manner.”

Pointing to the initial attack by the insurgent Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, known as ARSA, he said: “It is the responsibility of every government to fight against terrorism and protect innocent civilians.”

The ambassador said there are several reasons for the exodus and “prominent among them is the fear factor.” Following the August 25 attacks and the security operation, he said, “most of the women and children were forced to flee” while men were conscripted into ARSA to fight Myanmar’s security forces.

“The scorched earth policy employed by the terrorists is another factor,” Suan said. “The terrorists planted IEDS everywhere, blew up bridges, and committed arsons.”

Amnesty International has said it turned up evidence of an “orchestrated campaign of systematic burnings” by Myanmar security forces targeting dozens of Rohingya villages.

The human rights group released video, satellite photos, witness accounts and other data that found over 80 sites were torched and said as recently as Friday that fresh fires continued in Rakhine and that satellite and video images showed smoke rising from Muslim villages.