By PAUL VRIEZE / THE
IRRAWADDY|
Friday, July 19, 2013 |
[NOTA: Berita
yang dipetik dari sesawang ‘The Irrawady’ mengenai rancangan PBB untuk menghantar bantuan kemanusiaan tambahan kepada
puluhan ribu penduduk yang terperangkap di beberapa penempatan yang terpencil
di Arakan sangat dialu-alukan.
Dari
laporan di bawah ini dapatlah kita mengetahui betapa sengsaranya kehidupan yang
terpaksa dilalui oleh masyarakat Islam di Arakan yang menjadi pelarian di
negara mereka sendiri. Mereka (terutama yang tinggal di tempat yang terpencil)
teramat sukar mendapat bahan makanan, sukar
memperolehi kemudahan asas (termasuk bekalan air bersih) serta rawatan
kesihatan oleh kerana pergerakan mereka sentiasa dikawal dan disekat. Ramai
orang dilaporkan mengidap penyakit seperti tibi maut, termasuk juga wanita yang
bersalin kerana tidak mendapat rawatan perubatan. Pendidikan untuk kanak-kanak
pun dinafikan!
Disamping kita
mengalu-alukan ketibaan bantuan kemanusiaan itu namun ia tidak disenangi oleh
golongan ahli politik nasionalis di Arakan yang memberi reaksi negatif ‘… an increase in
security forces — and not an increase in UN aid — would improve the livelihoods
of those affected by the conflict….’ Kenyataan mereka itu berniat jahat- suka melihat orang Islam mati kebuluran dan
yang sakit dinafikan rawatan perubatan - mencerminkan bahawa mereka langsung
tidak ada sifat peri kemanusiaan!)
Majlis
Ulama Rohingya (MUR) juga menerima laporan bahawa bantuan kemanusiaan yang
diagihkan kepada mangsa etnik Rohingya sebelum ini dirampas semula
sebahagiannya oleh agen-agen pemerintah tidak berapa lama selepas pekerja-pekerja
NGO itu melakukan kerja kebajikan di penempatan berkenaan.
Begitulah
sikap rakus dan tahap kezaliman yang dilakukan oleh regim Thein Sein terhadap
masyarakat Rohingya di Arakan, Myanmar! ]
 |
A
child uses a World Food Program bag to shelter from the rain at Bawdupha camp
for internally displaced Rohingya Muslims, near Sittwe, Arakan State. (Photo:
Jpaing / The Irrawaddy)
|
RANGOON — The UN announced that it
plans to expand aid operations in Arakan State to another 36,000 people in 113
isolated villages.
These communities, which are most
Rohingya Muslim, have seen their livelihoods destroyed by inter-communal
conflict, while government security measures have restricted their access to
healthcare and other basic services.
The new UN aid plan, however, does
not include support measures for Aung Mingalar, the isolated Muslim
neighborhood in Sittwe town where authorities are confining some 6,500 people.
The proposed aid measures, which are
yet to be formally endorsed by the Burma government, would raise the total
number of UN aid recipients in Arakan to 176,000 people.
So far, the UN response in Arakan
has focused on 140,000 people, mostly Muslims, who are living in crowded camps
in the countryside. They were displaced by last year’s violence between
Rohingya Muslims and Arakanese Buddhists.
A report by the UN Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) released on Thursday said a
recent joint mapping exercise by aid organizations had identified 113 villages
that also required support.
“A year after the violence, many
people in villages are now isolated, with no or very limited access to basic
services, including markets, education and health care. Many have suffered
trauma and require support,” the report said. “This is due to continued
restrictions on movement, ongoing tensions and no return options.”
The plan also seeks to address the
needs of the approximately 20,000 children in Arakan who have missed one year
of schooling. The UN plans to set up temporary learning facilities for 12,000
children living in camps.
UNOCHA said it would cost US $80
million to implement the revised 2012-2013 response plan, adding that a $10
million funding gap remains.
A UN official, who asked not be
named, said UNOCHA had kept the government informed on its revised aid plan but
authorities have yet to formally endorse the measures.
Asked if the isolated Muslim
neighborhood in Sittwe town would receive aid under the new plan, the official
said, “We could not find it in the list… We are trying to find out why this
data has not come through.”
Security forces surround Aung
Mingalar, a quarter in the town’s old center, and its approximately 6,500
inhabitants cannot leave. Authorities have restricted food and medical aid
deliveries to the Muslim ghetto, even though it lacks health care facilities.
The government has also imposed
travel restrictions on the isolated Rohingya villagers and the displaced living
in camps. Authorities have so far limited UN aid deliveries to Muslim villages.
Burma’s government appears to have
taken the measures with the aim of reinforcing the Rohingya’s statelessness. It
has also been accused of supporting of the Buddhist majority in its attacks on
Muslims.
The measures have been criticized by
human rights groups and international aid organizations, such as Médecins Sans
Frontieres (MSF). The groups say the restrictions violate basic human rights,
such as freedom of movement and access to health care.
On Friday, MSF welcomed the new UN
plan to expand aid coverage to isolated villages, saying it was a step in the
right direction.
“It’s recognition that the affected
population is wider than the [displaced] population. People in these locations
have also lost access to services like health facilities, food markets, their
fields and sometimes even clean water,” said Peter Paul de Groote,MSF Head of
Mission in Burma.
MSF has repeatedly complained that
government restrictions are constraining its medical aid work. Currently, its
mobile health clinics are only allowed to visit Sittwe’s Muslim quarter twice a
week.
De Groote urged the government to
lift all “restrictions on freedom of movement for both humanitarian workers and
communities.”
“What we have seen shows that
current policies … are having a detrimental impact on people’s health. This
includes TB patients unable to access the treatment they need to stay alive,
and pregnant women dying unnecessarily because they have nowhere safe to
deliver,” he wrote in an email.
Shwe Maung, a parliamentarian with
the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party, welcomed the UN plan, saying
that the isolated Muslim villages had long been in desperate need of support.
“In the isolated villages it’s worse
than in the displaced people camps because they can’t even get regular food
rations,” said Shwe Maung, who represents the Muslim-majority Maungdaw Township
in northern Arakan State.
However, Arakanese nationalist
politicians, who are influential in the state, said in a reaction that an
increase in security forces — and not an increase in UN aid — would improve the
livelihoods of those affected by the conflict.
“Security is more important than
international aid,” claimed Khin Maung Gree, a central committee member of the
Rakhine Nationalities Development Party (RNDP), which supports the Buddhist
community. “If the villagers have good security they could easily go back to
their work.”
02:21
Ulama
