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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Aid groups seek access to Myanmar conflict zone

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YANGON: 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 people fleeing to Bangladesh but hundreds of thousands remain cut off from food, shelter and medical care.YANGON: 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 people fleeing to Bangladesh but hundreds of thousands remain cut off from food, shelter and medical care.Refugees are still fleeing from Myanmar, more than a month after Rohingya insurgents attacked security posts near the border, triggering fierce Myanmar military retaliation that the United Nations has branded ethnic cleansing.Aid groups said on Thursday the total number of refugees in Bangladesh was now 502,000 while Bangladesh police said 14 refugees drowned when their boat capsized off the coast in bad weather. The Myanmar government has stopped international non-government groups (INGOs), as well as UN agencies, from carrying out most of their work in the north of Rakhine state, citing insecurity since the August  25 insurgent attacks.“INGOs in Myanmar are increasingly concerned about severe restrictions on humanitarian access and impediments to the delivery of critically needed humanitarian assistance throughout Rakhine State,” aid groups said in a statement.An unknown number of people are internally displaced, while hundreds of thousands lack food, shelter and medical services, said the groups, including Care International, Oxfam and Save the Children.“We urge the government and authorities of Myanmar to ensure that all people in need in Rakhine Sate 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 groups of helping the insurgents.Aid groups dismissed the accusations, which they said had inflamed anger towards 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 out of Myanmar, and of committing crimes against humanity. — Reuters


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