File photo shows
internally displaced Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar’s western state of Rakhine.
PressTV;
April 19, 2013
The UN refugee
agency has warned of a “humanitarian catastrophe” in Myanmar as the country’s
displaced Rohingya Muslims face the threat of monsoon floods.
The United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Friday said it is “seriously concerned
about the risks facing over 60,000 displaced people in flood-prone areas and in
makeshift shelters.”
"From May to
September, the monsoon season is expected to unleash heavy rains and possible
cyclones in Rakhine state, where more than 115,000 people remain uprooted after
last year's inter-communal violence," UNHCR spokesman Adrian Edwards told
reporters.
The official was
referring to the deadly attacks by extremist Buddhists in 2012 against the
western state of Rakhine’s community of Rohingya Muslims, described by the UN
as one of the most persecuted minority groups in the world.
Edwards also
expressed concern that operations to provide shelter and food for the displaced
are desperately underfunded, noting that donors have provided just 14 percent of
the USD 1.4 million the UN agency needs for its Myanmar operation.
"Flooding will
exacerbate the already fragile conditions of shelter and sanitation, and
increase the risk of water-borne diseases. In addition, several thousand people
are still living in tents and flimsy makeshift shelters made of tarpaulin, rice
bags, and grass that cannot withstand even moderate rains," he warned.
Rohingya Muslims in
Myanmar account for about five percent of the country’s population of nearly 60
million. They have been persecuted and faced torture, neglect, and repression
since the country's independence in 1948.
Myanmar’s
government has been repeatedly criticized for failing to protect the Rohingya
Muslims.
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