'Rohingya refugees could die of starvation, lack of shelter'

A Rohingya man waits for food distributed by volunteers in Kutupalong, Bangladesh, which has offered land to fleeing Rohingya Muslims. Picture: AP

A Rohingya man waits for food distributed by volunteers in Kutupalong, Bangladesh, which has offered land to fleeing Rohingya Muslims. Picture: AP

Published Sep 17, 2017

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Cox's Bazar - Rohingya

refugees in Bangladesh could die due to a lack of food, shelter

and water, given the huge numbers fleeing violence in Myanmar,

an aid agency warned on Sunday, as authorities began moving

people to camps to streamline the distribution of help.

Nearly 410 000 members of the Rohingya Muslim minority fled

from Myanmar's western Rakhine state to Bangladesh to escape a

military offensive that the United Nations has branded a

"textbook example of ethnic cleansing".

"Many people are arriving hungry, exhausted and with no food

or water," Mark Pierce, Bangladesh country director for the Save

the Children aid agency said in a statement.

"I'm particularly worried that the demand for food, shelter,

water and basic hygiene support is not being met due to the

sheer number of people in need. If families can't meet their

basic needs, the suffering will get even worse and lives could

be lost."

Bangladesh has for decades faced influxes of Rohingya

fleeing persecution in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, where the

Rohingya are regarded as illegal migrants.

Bangladesh was already home to 400 000 Rohingya before the

latest crisis erupted on August 25, when Rohingya insurgents

attacked police posts and an army camp in the western state of

Rakhine, killing a dozen people.

Pierce said the humanitarian response needed to be rapidly

scaled up.

"That can only be done if the international community steps

up funding," he said.

Rights monitors and fleeing Rohingya say Myanmar security

forces and Rakhine Buddhist vigilantes responded to the August 25

insurgent attacks with what they say is a campaign of violence

and arson aimed at driving out the Muslim population.

Myanmar rejects that, saying its security forces are

carrying out clearance operations against the insurgents of the

Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, which claimed responsibility for

the August attacks and similar, smaller, raids in October.

The Myanmar government has declared the group a terrorist

organisation and accused it of setting the fires and attacking

civilians.

Bangladesh border guards said the flow of refugees leaving

Myanmar had eased off over the past day, apparently because bad

weather had discouraged people from taking to boats to reach

Bangladesh.

Heavy rain has turned roads into mud, with refugees huddling

under shelters of bamboo and plastic sheets beside them.

Bangladeshi authorities said they had started moving an

estimated 100 000 Rohingya living by the roads to camps

designated as aid points.

"We're not allowing any distribution to anyone from the side

of the road," said district government official Kazi Abdur

Rahman. "We want to convince them there's everything in the camp

and nothing here."

A big new camp is planned but it is unclear how long it

would take to build.

"People are living in these muddy, awful conditions. You

have to get them to some sort of space where aid can be

delivered," said Chris Lom of the International Organisation for

Migration.

"Clean water and sanitation can only be delivered in a

structured environment."

There is no sign that violence has stopped in Myanmar, with

smoke, apparently from burning villages, seen as recently as

Friday, meaning more refugees are likely to cross.

Human Rights Watch said satellite imagery showed 62 Rohingya

villages had been torched since the violence erupted.

Myanmar says more than 430 people have been killed, most of

them insurgents, and about 30 000 non-Muslim villagers have been

displaced.

Myanmar government leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu

Kyi has faced a barrage of criticism from abroad for not

stopping the violence.

The military remains in full control of security policy and

there is little sympathy for the Rohingya in a country where the

end of army rule has unleashed old animosities, and the military

campaign in Rakhine State is widely supported.

Suu Kyi is due to make her first address to the nation on

the crisis on Tuesday.

Her foreign supporters and Western governments that backed

her campaign against military rule, and see her as the best hope

for Myanmar's future, will be hoping to see her make a

commitment to protect the rights of the Muslim minority.

Suu Kyi's supporters at home could be disappointed if she is

perceived to be caving in to foreign pressure and taking the

side of a Muslim minority blamed for initiating the violence.

The United States has called for the protection of civilians

and a deputy assistant secretary of state, Patrick Murphy, is

due in Myanmar this week.

He will travel to Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine State, to

meet government officials and representatives of different

communities, including Rohingya, but he is not seeking to travel

to the conflict zone in northern Rakhine State.

The military has called for unity on the issue.

The political party founded by retired officers and trounced

by Suu Kyi's party in the 2015 election, could be expected to

take heart to see her support eroded by the crisis.

Reuters

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