Dubai Ruler orders more relief flights for Rohingya

Three additional airlifts of vital humanitarian supplies for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh have been ordered by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai.

The aid drops target more than 230,000 Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh who are fleeing persecution in Myanmar’s Rakhine state. They live in dire conditions in makeshift settlements where they lack the most basic necessities such as food, shelter, water and clothes.

The move is the latest in a series of aid flights from Dubai. This month, Sheikh Mohammed ordered the creation of an air bridge to Bangladesh. This resulted in six airlifts to the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka with 550 tonnes of aid worth about US$2.3 million (Dh8.44m).

Food, family tents, tarpaulins, mosquito nets, blankets, solar lanterns, water purification units, medical supplies, and hygiene kits are just some of the relief items that were sent to the country.

The supplies come from International Humanitarian City stocks of aid agencies, including the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the Emirates Red Crescent, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and Medecins Sans Frontiere.

In August, UN aid personnel had to leave the province when the Myanmar military began a crackdown on Rohingya militants.

Twelve flights from Dubai this year took aid to crisisstricken countries around the world.