Situation in Myanmar dire, says UN

YANGON - Agence France-Presse

The U.N.’s humanitarian chief has described conditions for thousands of displaced Muslim Rohingya in western Myanmar as “dire” and said both Muslim and Buddhist communities are living in fear.

“I was very concerned by some of what I saw today,” said Valerie Amos, the U.N.’s under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator. Amos, who travelled in the state as part of a wider visit to Myanmar, said that in one area, Myebon, thousands were packed into “overcrowded, substandard shelter with poor sanitation.”

Movement restricted

“They don’t have jobs, children are not in school and they can’t leave the camp because their movement is restricted. The situation is dire,” she said.

The U.N. said more than 115,000 people remain displaced by the two rounds of communal violence that erupted in Rakhine in June and October. Scores died in the conflict and whole villages, mainly those of Rohingya Muslims, were forced to flee their homes. “Tensions between the communities are still running very high,” Amos said.

”People from both communities gave me the same message. They are living in fear and want to go back to living a normal life. There is an urgent need for reconciliation,” she added.