Faizel Patel, Radio Islam News – 02-09-2017
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned of a looming humanitarian catastrophe in western Myanmar after the killing of nearly 400 people – mostly Rohingya Muslims – in the worst outbreak of violence in years.
The violence has sent tens of thousands of Rohingya fleeing across the border into Bangladesh, while scores of desperate people have drowned trying to cross a border river in makeshift boats.
On Friday the bodies of twenty people were found floating in the Naf River that separates Bangladesh and Myanmar.
Twenty six women and children when their boats capsized a day earlier.
Reports of massacres and the systematic torching of villages have raised fears that the violence in Rakhine is spinning out of control.
The rising tensions follow what Rohingya Muslims say have been decades of persecution in the majority Buddhist majority nation.
Guterres says that it was the government’s responsibility to provide security and allow aid agencies to reach those in need.
He also noted with appreciation the efforts of Bangladeshi authorities to meet the “dire needs” of those crossing the border.
The UN Security Council met behind closed doors on Wednesday to discuss the violence, but there was no formal statement on the crisis.
There are widespread of accounts of atrocities – some world leaders say it’s a genocide.
But journalists and UN observers are not allowed in the country, so cannot independently verify the claims.
– Al Jazeera
0 Comments