Skip to footer

US calls on Myanmar to allow aid to area wracked by ethnic violence

Aid agencies were forced to halt operations in the Myanmar state of Rakhine last week after Buddhists destroyed staff homes, offices, and boats used to transport supplies. On Wednesday, the US called on the Myanmar government to allow humanitarian staff access to the area again.

|
Khin Maung Win/AP
Myanmar Muslims, who identify themselves as long-persecuted 'Rohingya' Muslims, sit on the ground at Da Paing camp for Muslim refugees in north of Sittwe, Rakhine State, western Myanmar, Wednesday.
  • By David Brunnstrom Reuters

| Washington

The United States called on Myanmar on Wednesday to lift travel restrictions on U.N. and other humanitarian staff to allow them to resume work in the country's Rakhine State, which has been hit by ethnic and religious violence.

The State Department expressed deep concern about what it termed "a humanitarian crisis" in the state and said violent mob attacks on U.N. and non-governmental organization offices had worsened an already troubling situation.

"We call on the ... government to rescind travel restrictions and to facilitate the appropriate travel authorizations to the United Nations and other humanitarian organizations so they may resume services to all vulnerable people in Rakhine State," it said.

"We further call on the government to take meaningful steps to provide security for all humanitarian workers and residents of Rakhine State."

Aid agencies were forced to halt operations in Rakhine a week ago when hundreds of ethnic Rakhine Buddhists destroyed staff homes, offices and warehouses as well as boats used to transport supplies. Police fired warning shots to quell the rioters and rescue aid workers.

Humanitarian workers forced to evacuate the area said about 20,000 people in displacement camps around the town of Sittwe would run out of drinking water within 10 days, while food stocks would run out within two weeks, imperilling thousands.

Aid groups have long drawn the ire of some in the ethnic Rakhine Buddhist community who accuse them of favoring the mainly Muslim Rohingya, who make up the vast majority of victims of violence that has displaced more than 140,000 since June 2012.

The evacuations came as Myanmar prepared a census - the country's first since 1983 - which has sparked controversy because it includes questions on religion and ethnicity.

The U.S. statement urged the government to take steps to ensure the census was conducted "in a manner consistent with international standards and the government's commitment to national reconciliation and the peaceful resolution of ethnic and religious differences."

Sectarian tensions are especially marked in Rakhine, which is home to a million mostly stateless Rohingya whom the government refers to as Bengali, implying they are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

While "Rohingya" is not listed on the census form, people have the option to check "other" and ask enumerators to fill in their ethnicity. Some Rakhine Buddhists have threatened to boycott the census out of concern that it could lead to official recognition for the Rohingya.

On Tuesday, the U.N. Population Fund, or UNFPA, which helped organize the census, said it was concerned about the decision not to allow respondents to "self-identify" as Rohingya, calling this "a departure from international census standards, human rights principles and agreed procedures."

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to US calls on Myanmar to allow aid to area wracked by ethnic violence
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Latest-News-Wires/2014/0402/US-calls-on-Myanmar-to-allow-aid-to-area-wracked-by-ethnic-violence
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe