Top UN Relief Official Calls On Myanmar's Leaders to
Support Humanitarian Efforts
New York, Dec 5 2012 - On
a visit to a Myanmar state wracked by inter-communal
violence, the top United Nations relief official today
called on the country's leaders to support UN and other
humanitarian efforts in the region.
"The trust is not
there," the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs
and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Valerie Amos, said after
touring several communities across Rakhine state on
Myanmar's west coast.
"We need the political leaders in
Myanmar to support the important humanitarian work being
done by the United Nations and our partners," she added, as
she spoke of the need for local leaders to "speak out and
explain that they have asked us to be here to help."
"Our
job is to try to help everyone in need," Ms. Amos stated,
according to a press release from the UN Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
Clashes
between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims broke
out in the north of the state in June, leading the
Government to declare a state of emergency there. That bout
of violence reportedly left at least a dozen civilians dead
and hundreds of homes destroyed, while internally displacing
some 75,000 people.
Since then, at least 89 people were
killed and 36,000 displaced in the wake of a renewed upsurge
in violence, beginning in late September, which also left
more than 5,300 houses and religious buildings destroyed,
according to UN estimates.
"Tensions between the
communities are still running very high," said Ms. Amos, who
travelled with the Myanmar Minister of Border Affairs,
Lieutenant General Thein Htay, to Myebon, Pauktaw and
Maungdaw, and also to a series of camps outside Sittwe.
"I
was shocked to see so many soldiers everywhere keeping
communities away from each other," she added.
Ms. Amos
said people of both communities consistently gave her the
same message: that they were living in fear and wanted to
return to living a normal life.
"There is an urgent need
for reconciliation," said Ms. Amos.
Currently, some
115,000 people are living in camps or with host families
across Rakhine state, according OCHA.
While Ms. Amos
highlighted that security threats to humanitarian workers
posed a major challenge to providing assistance, OCHA added
that coordination between the Government and UN agencies had
improved in the camps outside Sittwe, where more than 70,000
people are living. "The level of assistance provided to
people in the different camps varies significantly," the
Office said.
Ms. Amos spoke of her concern over camp
conditions, noting for example that the situation in Myebon
is "dire."
"I saw thousands of people in overcrowded,
sub-standard shelter with poor sanitation," she said. "They
don't have jobs, children are not in school and they can't
leave the camp because their movement is restricted."
Ms.
Amos said other challenges included a lack of partners on
the ground, while inadequate funding was limiting the
capacity to respond.
Some $41 million of the $68 million
needed to help the 115,000 displaced people during the next
nine months remains outstanding, according to OCHA, citing
revised figures from the Rakhine Response Plan put together
by the humanitarian community in Myanmar.
For more details
go to UN News Centre at http://www.un.org/news
ENDS
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