Staff Reporter :
International aid groups in Myanmar have urged the government to allow free access to Rakhine state, where an army offensive has sent more than 500,000 Rohingya people fleeing to Bangladesh.
But hundreds of thousands remain there cut off from food, shelter and medical care, they said.
Rohingyas are still leaving Myanmar, more than a month after reported attacks on security posts near the border by insurgents, triggering fierce Myanmar military retaliation.
Aid groups said on Thursday the Myanmar
government has stopped international aid groups and UN agencies from carrying out most of their work in the north of Rakhine state, citing insecurity since the August 25 insurgent attacks.
In a joint statement, aid groups said they were: “increasingly concerned about severe restrictions on humanitarian access and impediments to the delivery of critically needed humanitarian assistance throughout Rakhine State.”
“We urge the government and authorities of Myanmar to ensure that all people in need in Rakhine State have full, free and unimpeded access to life-saving humanitarian assistance.”
The government has put the Myanmar Red Cross in charge of aid to the state, with the help of the International Committee of the Red Cross. But the groups said they feared insufficient aid was getting through.
Relations between the government and aid agencies had been difficult for months, with some officials accusing the groups of helping the insurgents.
Aid groups dismissed the accusations, which they said had inflamed anger toward them among Buddhists in the communally divided state, and called for an end to “misinformation and unfounded accusations”.
Rights groups have accused the army of trying to push Rohingya Muslims out of Myanmar, and of committing crimes against humanity. They have called for sanctions, in particular an arms embargo.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned on Thursday that the violence against Rohingya Muslims in the northern part of Rakhine could spread to central Rakhine, where 250,000 more people were at risk of displacement.
Guterres told the UN Security Council during its first public meeting on Myanmar in eight years, that the violence had spiraled into the “world’s fastest developing refugee emergency, a humanitarian and human rights nightmare.”
International aid groups in Myanmar have urged the government to allow free access to Rakhine state, where an army offensive has sent more than 500,000 Rohingya people fleeing to Bangladesh.
But hundreds of thousands remain there cut off from food, shelter and medical care, they said.
Rohingyas are still leaving Myanmar, more than a month after reported attacks on security posts near the border by insurgents, triggering fierce Myanmar military retaliation.
Aid groups said on Thursday the Myanmar
government has stopped international aid groups and UN agencies from carrying out most of their work in the north of Rakhine state, citing insecurity since the August 25 insurgent attacks.
In a joint statement, aid groups said they were: “increasingly concerned about severe restrictions on humanitarian access and impediments to the delivery of critically needed humanitarian assistance throughout Rakhine State.”
“We urge the government and authorities of Myanmar to ensure that all people in need in Rakhine State have full, free and unimpeded access to life-saving humanitarian assistance.”
The government has put the Myanmar Red Cross in charge of aid to the state, with the help of the International Committee of the Red Cross. But the groups said they feared insufficient aid was getting through.
Relations between the government and aid agencies had been difficult for months, with some officials accusing the groups of helping the insurgents.
Aid groups dismissed the accusations, which they said had inflamed anger toward them among Buddhists in the communally divided state, and called for an end to “misinformation and unfounded accusations”.
Rights groups have accused the army of trying to push Rohingya Muslims out of Myanmar, and of committing crimes against humanity. They have called for sanctions, in particular an arms embargo.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned on Thursday that the violence against Rohingya Muslims in the northern part of Rakhine could spread to central Rakhine, where 250,000 more people were at risk of displacement.
Guterres told the UN Security Council during its first public meeting on Myanmar in eight years, that the violence had spiraled into the “world’s fastest developing refugee emergency, a humanitarian and human rights nightmare.”
