Arakan News Agency
The organisers of the Food Flotilla to help the Rohingya will respect the Myanmar government’s decision to only allow them to dock in the capital Yangon.
They had wanted to dock in Sittwe, where a large number of Rohingya are living in Internally Displaced Camps (IDP), but the Myanmar government refused to give them permission to do so.
The mission is organised by the Malaysian Consultative Council of Islam Organisations (Mapim), Kelab Putra 1Malaysia (KP1M), Turkey Diyanet Vakfi (TDV) and a coalition of NGOs from the region.
“We have been given the green light to dock at Yangon. There are still discussions on how to make sure the aid will be delivered to its intended targets.
“The Myanmar Government said they will deliver it themselves, but we are not happy with that.
“But the point is they have given the greenlight to enter their waterways, so we will talk in Yangon,” Mapim president Mohd Azmi Abdul Hamid told the media.
He said that as a gesture of respect, they would abide by Myanmar’s decision.
Mohd Azmi said the Myanmar government wants the aid delivered via land.
Yangon is almost 900km by road from Sittwe, with the journey estimated to take almost 20 hours.
“We are requesting that we witness the aid being distributed in the camps. That is still under negotiations,” he said.
He added that the Myanmar government also demanded that the aid be channelled to other affected communities as well.
“That’s fine because we want everybody who are affected to get the aid,” he said.
Mohd Azmi said that after Yangon, the flotilla will head to the Bangladeshi town of Teknaf that borders Myanmar.
The flotilla will set sail from Port Klang on Feb 3, after being postponed from the original Jan 10 date.
The flotilla is expected to deliver more than 1,000 tonnes of rice, medical aid and other essential supplies to help the refugees.
The United Nations has reported that about 65,000 Rogingyas have fled to Bangladesh since Oct 9.
Myanmar troops poured into the western state of Arakan in response to coordinated attacks on three border posts on Oct 9 that killed nine police officers.
Considered to be stateless and often subjected to arbitrary violence and forced labour in Myanmar, the Rohingyas are considered by the United Nations as one of the most persecuted minorities in the world.
