2 flights in Bangladesh with aid for Rohingya refugees: UN

Two flights – one of UN refugee agency and another of United Arab Emirates –landed in Bangladesh with supplies to help 25,000 Rohingya Muslim refugees fleeing violence in Myanmar, UNHCR Spokesperson in Bangladesh Joseph S Tripura said today.

Talking to The Daily Star over phone, Joseph also confirmed that around 3,89,000 Rohingya refugees have entered Bangladesh so far.

The influx of refugees comes in the wake of violence triggered by a Rohingya insurgent attack in Myanmar's Rakhine State on August 25.

Rohingyas fleeing security forces in Rakhine State have described killings, shelling, and arson in their villages that have all the hallmarks of a campaign of "ethnic cleansing," according to a press statement of Human Rights Watch issued on September 8.

In a release, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the flights that landed yesterday carried shelter materials, sleeping mats, nearly 2,000 family tents, and other emergency supplies for a refugee camp in Cox's Bazar district in the country's southeast.

Further flights are planned to enable a total of 120,000 refugees to be reached.

Dujarric says the UN World Food Program is providing food to some 70,000 people as they arrive in Cox's Bazar and to nearly 60,000 people living in camps and makeshift settlements.