U.N. SUSPENDS FOOD AID TO TENS OF THOUSANDS OF ROHINGYA
UN, aid groups suspend operations as govt accuses them of supporting insurgents
AROUND 120,000 displaced people, mostly Rohingya, in camps in Myanmar’s Rakhine State are not receiving food supplies or healthcare after the United Nations and aid groups suspended operations following government accusations of supporting insurgents.
Nearly 400 people have died in fighting in the far north of the state after Rohingya militants attacked police posts and an army base a week ago, provoking a major army counteroffensive.
The impact from the conflict has now spread, including to the state capital here further south, where some 90,000 Rohingya have lived in camps since an outbreak of communal violence rocked the city in 2012, killing nearly 200 people.
A further 30,000 Rohingya are housed in camps elsewhere in the state, while a small number of ethnic Rakhine Buddhists displaced in the 2012 violence also live in separate camps.
“As a result of the disruption of activities in central Rakhine, many are currently not receiving their normal food assistance, and primary healthcare services have been severely disrupted,” said Pierre Peron, a spokesman for the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
UN and aid groups had evacuated “non-critical” staff from the north of the state amid intensifying fighting and after the office of leader Aung San Suu Kyi repeatedly published pictures of World Food Programme energy biscuits allegedly found at an insurgent camp. Suu Kyi’s office said it was investigating aid groups’ support for the insurgents.
More than 2,600 houses have been burned down in Rohingya majority areas of Myanmar’s northwest in the last week, the government said yesterday.
About 58,600 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh from Myanmar, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees as aid workers struggle to cope.
Officials blamed the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army for the burning of the homes. The group claimed responsibility for coordinated attacks on security posts last week that prompted clashes and a large army counteroffensive.
But Rohingya fleeing to Bangladesh said a campaign of arson and killings by the army was aimed at trying to force them out.
The treatment of Myanmar’s roughly 1.1 million Rohingya is the biggest challenge facing Suu Kyi, accused by Western critics of not speaking out for the Muslim minority that has long complained of persecution. Reuters