SITTWE - Crammed into squalid camps, thousands of people who fled
communal violence in Myanmar face a deepening humanitarian crisis with
critical shortages of food, water and medicine, aid workers say. More
than 100,000 people have been displaced since June in two major spasms
of violence in western Rakhine State, where renewed clashes last month
between Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims uprooted about 30,000
people. Dozens were killed on both sides and thousands of homes were
torched. Even in the camps near the state capital Sittwe housing ethnic
Rakhine Buddhists - who have freedom of movement and are able to work if
they can find employment - people are going hungry.
“We don’t have enough to eat,” said Phyu Ma Thein, 33. “The abbot gave
us a bowl of rice but we have no pots, no plates. We have nothing. We’re
just trying to survive.”
The situation is likely to deteriorate, the UN Refugee Agency warned
this week, as a new influx of refugees pushes the camps “beyond capacity
in terms of space, shelter and basic supplies such as food and water”.
“Food prices in the area have doubled and there are not enough doctors
to treat the sick and wounded,” it added. Most of the displaced are
Rohingya, described by the UN as among the world’s most persecuted
minorities. Seen by the government and many Burmese as illegal
immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh, Myanmar’s 800,000 stateless
Rohingya have long faced severe discrimination, according to rights
groups.
Their displacement camps are at crisis point, according to Refugees
International (RI) which estimates that even before last month’s
flare-up nearly a quarter of children in the squalid facilities were
malnourished.
“Conditions in these camps are as bad if not worse than ones in Eastern
Congo or Sudan,” Melanie Teff, a researcher with the charity who visited
Sittwe in September, told AFP from London. “Child malnutrition rates
are startlingly high. There’s an urgent need for clean water and food.
If further aid does not come through there will be some unnecessary
deaths,” she said.
With tens of thousands of Rohingya in outlying villages struggling to
make a living since security collapsed after June’s unrest, Teff fears
official camps could be overwhelmed by a new wave of refugees over the
coming months. Myanmar, which is opening up after decades of secretive
junta rule, has said it has to accept aid from Muslim countries or face
an international backlash. That concession by President Thein Sein last
month came despite a series of angry protests by Myanmar Buddhists
against efforts by a world Islamic body to help Muslims affected by the
violence in Rakhine.
But the flow of aid is still sluggish to the tinderbox province.
In Baw Du Pha relief camp, where several thousand Rohingya refugees from
Sittwe live cheek-by-jowl, surviving on rations and severly short of
medical care, a mother-of-four told AFP Friday of her family’s
desperation. “I cannot give my baby rice when she needs it. We are
suffering,” said Laila, 20. “When my daughter gets sick we have no money
for medicine.” Compounding the immediate need for essentials such as
rice, water and oil, aid workers say refugees are facing a mounting
psychological toll with terrified children bearing the brunt. “They lost
their houses in the fires. Children cannot be left alone like before.
So they’re depressed,” said Moe Thadar, a local Red Cross worker. With
tensions still at boiling point despite beefed-up security, the relief
effort is in jeopardy and the outlook for peace is grim unless the two
communities can somehow reconcile, according to Teff. “As it stands
there is a total lack of hope for the Rohingya. They have been rejected
by many countries. They have suffered all around,” she said. “The only
way out is for the international community to act on the current
situation.” The UNHCR said the recent bloodshed spurred several thousand
Rohingya to take to rickety boats this week in the hope of finding
shelter at camps on the coast near the outskirts of Sittwe or escaping
the country altogether.
But tragedy awaits even in flight, as around 130 people went missing
after one boat sank off the coast near Bangladesh’s border with Myanmar
while carrying Rohingya refugees heading for Malaysia.
Dozens of other boats were repelled by nervous Myanmar security forces
near Sittwe, leaving them with no choice but to dock on the barren
shoreline, according to an AFP reporter who visited the scene this week.
“Humans need shelter, a place to sleep and eat,” said Myint Oo, a
displaced Muslim who has lost his house and fishing business. “If you
cannot eat and sleep, it’s worse than dying.”
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