UN seeks rapid increase in Rohingya aid
Muslim refugees seeking shelter in Bangladesh from “unimaginable horrors” in Myanmar face enormous hardship and risk a dramatic deterioration in circumstances unless aid is stepped up, the head of the UN refugee agency said on Monday.
The warning comes as a wave of violence in Myanmar has sent 436,000 Muslim Rohingya fleeing to Bangladesh, Reuters reported.
The violence in western Myanmar’s Rakhine state and the refugee exodus is the biggest crisis the government of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has faced since it came to power last year in a transition from nearly 50 years of military rule.
UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi told a news conference in Bangladesh that “solutions to this crisis lie with Myanmar.”
But until then, the world had to help the “deeply traumatized” refugees facing enormous hardship, whom he had met on a weekend visit to camps in southeast Bangladesh.
“They had seen villages burned down, families shot or hacked to death, women and girls brutalized,” Grandi said.
He called for aid to be “rapidly stepped up” and thanked Bangladesh for keeping its border open.
Buddhist-majority Myanmar regards the Rohingya Muslims as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.
The latest violence began on August 25 when 30 police posts and an army camp were attacked which were blamed on the Rohingya.
The United Nations has described a sweeping military response as ethnic cleansing, with refugees and rights groups accusing Myanmar forces and Buddhist vigilantes of violence and arson aimed at driving Rohingya out.
The United States has said the Myanmar action was disproportionate and has called for an end to the violence.
Myanmar rejects accusations of ethnic cleansing, saying it is fighting terrorists.
Cholera warning
The World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Monday of a growing cholera risk in the makeshift refugee camps in Bangladesh where Rohingya Muslims have sought shelter from unrest in Myanmar, AFP wrote.
“Risk of waterborne diseases is high, especially (as) there is a very high risk of cholera and this is why everyone is concerned,” the WHO said in a statement. “Interventions are being scaled-up, however, the situation remains critical and challenging.”
The WHO says mobile medical centers have been set up, while Bangladesh health authorities say they have treated some 4,500 Rohingya for diarrhea in a month and vaccinated some 80,000 children for measles and polio.
“We are trying our best to face the challenges. But we are concerned,” Enayet Hossain, deputy head of Bangladesh’s Health Services Department, said.