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Rights groups urge aid access to conflict-hit Myanmar region

by Beh Lih Yi | @BehLihYi | Thomson Reuters Foundation
Friday, 21 October 2016 09:54 GMT

A Rohingya Muslim man carries containers of water in front of boats near a jetty at a refugee camp outside Sittwe, Myanmar May 21, 2015. REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun

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Nearly 120,000 people, mostly Rohingya, were already displaced in Rakhine after an outbreak of communal violence in 2012

By Beh Lih Yi

JAKARTA, Oct 21 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Rights groups urged Myanmar to allow humanitarian access to a troubled Muslim-majority region following the latest violence that has prevented aid agencies from delivering food and medicines.

Troops have been sweeping northern Rakhine state for more than a week, hunting an estimated 400 fighters who officials believe are members of mostly stateless Rohingya Muslim community acting with the support of Islamists abroad.

The Myanmar military has declared the area an "operation zone" and has tightly controlled the flow of information since insurgents seized dozens of weapons in raids on border posts on Oct. 9, in which nine police officers were killed.

U.N. agencies have said they have no access to the affected areas to assess humanitarian needs after the attacks.

Human rights groups said Myanmar, also known as Burma, must ensure humanitarian aid can reach those in need.

"The Burmese government has a responsibility to search for and arrest those who attacked the border posts," New York-based Human Rights Watch's Asia director Brad Adams said in a statement on Friday.

"But it is required to do so in a manner that respects human rights, ensures that the area's people get the aid they need, and allows journalists and rights monitors into the area."

Amnesty International said the latest violence "aggravated what was already a serious humanitarian situation in the country".

"The Myanmar authorities must immediately lift restrictions preventing the United Nations and other humanitarian agencies from reaching people in need," its Southeast Asia and the Pacific director Rafendi Djamin said.

The U.N. World Food Programme said it remains unable to access 50,000 people in need of food aid in Maungdaw township, which has been at the centre of the violence, but it hopes to regain access to nearby Buthidaung township by next week.

"After several days with no access to these areas, WFP hopes to be able to resume its regular support for some 37,000 people by next week," regional spokeswoman Silke Buhr told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

"This includes distributions of cash for vulnerable households and nutrient-dense supplementary food for pregnant women and young children."

At least 30 suspected militants and five military personnel have been killed in clashes since the Oct. 9 raids.

Nearly 120,000 people, mostly Rohingya, were already displaced in Rakhine after an outbreak of communal violence in 2012. Thousands more were believed to have been displaced in the latest violence.

(Reporting by Beh Lih Yi @behlihyi, editing by Alisa Tang. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, property rights and climate change. Visit http://news.trust.org)

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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