UNHCR alarmed at fragile security situation in Rakhine State

Briefing notes

UNHCR alarmed at fragile security situation in Rakhine State

This is a summary of what was said by UNHCR spokesperson – to whom quoted text may be attributed – at today's press briefing at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.

22 June 2012

We are very concerned about reports we are receiving concerning the tense and fragile security situation in the areas affected by the recent violence in Rakhine State. Even though the situation appears calm, we are still getting reports of violence and new displacements.

In the days ahead, anyone fleeing the situation in Myanmar or being pushed back will also face increasingly hazardous and rough seas, with swell heights reaching three to four metres in the northern part of the Bay of Bengal.

Meanwhile, UNHCR aid is reaching affected communities after we re-deployed a team to Sittwe to join other staff who remained in Rakhine State throughout the latest events.

The number of people estimated to have been affected by the violence continues to grow, with latest unofficial estimates close to 90,000, including those displaced and those too frightened to leave their homes. Initial estimates are that many could remain displaced for three months or longer.

There are now more than 70 sites for displaced people, including camps and monasteries. Our staff who have visited camps for both displaced communities in Sittwe have found children, women, elderly people and men sleeping on the ground, desperate for heavy tarpaulins, blankets and mosquito nets. We are also concerned about possibility of outbreaks of disease because of poor water supplies and sanitation at a time when it is raining heavily.

We have already distributed blankets, kitchen sets and plastic sheeting and mosquito nets to more than 4,500 people from our stocks in Maungdaw and Buthidaung. Trucks with similar supplies for a further 9,000 people are on their way to Rakhine State, with first trucks due to reach Sittwe on Sunday. We would like to emphasize that we distribute humanitarian aid impartially on the basis of need, and on the basis of need only, regardless of the background and origin of the victims of the recent disturbances.

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