Arakan News Agency
Myanmar authorities will set up camps to help displaced ethnic minority in Arakan state, media said on Saturday in the government’s first move to help after 16 days of violence against the Rohingya, some of whom have taken refuge in Bangladesh.
Tens of thousands of people are still in Arakan state are believed to be fleeing, as their villages were burned down after army campaigns. Rohingya refugees accuse them of attacking civilians and surrounding them in the hills without food, water, shelter and medical care.
Bangladesh has called on Myanmar to halt influx of refugees by securing a “safe area” within the country for displaced Rohingya people. After two weeks of violence, the government has revealed that it will set up three camps in the north, south and center of Maungdaw, a predominantly Rohingya region where violence is concentrated.
“The displaced will be able to receive humanitarian assistance and medical care, which will be provided by local Red Cross volunteers,” the New Global Light or Myanmar newspaper reported today.
“The United Nations and international non-governmental organizations are not welcome in Arakan,” said International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies Joey Singal.
Aid workers are concerned, as many Rohingya have been without food since mid-July, when the World Food Program (WFP), which provides them with food and financial aid, can no longer work inside Arakan.
The United Nations evacuated “non-essential” workers from the area after government hints that WFP and international relief organizations had supported the rebels shortly after the attacks.
“The government will coordinate and facilitate the work, while the Red Cross will conduct assessments, for aid implementation,” he said.
Jordan called on the international community to act immediately to stop the violence against the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar and to hold those responsible accountable, stressing that what is happening there is “crime and terrorism.”
“What is happening in Myanmar is a crime and terrorism that requires immediate international action to stop them and hold those responsible accountable,” Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi wrote in an editorial on his official page. “We are working with the brothers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to launch this move.”
Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb Grand Imam of al-Azhar strongly condemned the violence against the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar and warned in a statement yesterday that this would encourage terrorists.
he further adds “It calls upon all international bodies and organizations and human rights organizations all over the world to take the necessary steps to investigate these abominable crimes and to prosecute them and bring them to the International Court of Justice for trial as war criminals for their atrocities.”
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak said that Muslim Rohingya are facing systematic violence including torture, rape and murder in Myanmar
“Based on the reports we have received, they (Rohingya) are discriminated,” Abdul Razak told journalists at the Subang airbase near Kuala Lumpur. “It is a plan and they are being subjected to torture, discrimination, murder and rape,” he said.
Najib Abdul Razzaq had earlier sent two cargo planes carrying food and medical supplies to the port city of Chittagong in Bangladesh. “We are sending two planes carrying food and other necessities ,” he said. “Malaysia will do all it can to help in this great disaster.”
He added that a reconnaissance team of diplomats and military will arrive in Dhaka to assess the needs of the Rohingya.
The commander of the Malaysian armed forces said today that Kuala Lumpur will provide 200 military beds to a field hospital in Bangladesh if the government agrees to this.
Describing Myanmar’s failure to stop violence against civilians as “disappointing,” Najib said he would discuss the humanitarian tragedy of Rohingya with US President Donald Trump on September 12th during a meeting at the White House. “We must provide assistance because the tragedy of the Rohingya has reached frightening proportions,” he said. The powerful youth movement of Naguib al-Hakim party in Malaysia yesterday led a demonstration in Kuala Lumpur, which called for the severance of diplomatic relations with Myanmar.
The United Nations refugee agency said that “an estimated 270,000 Rohingya refugees have fled Myanmar in the past two weeks, seeking refuge in Bangladesh.”
