WFP assures food support for 500,000 Rohingya refugees

World Food Programme has assured of providing food support to 500,000 Rohingya until they return to Myanmar, Relief and Disaster Management Minister Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya today said.

"At the same time, they will also help diplomatically on the repatriation of the Myanmar nationals," the minister told reporters after a meeting with World Food Programme Executive Director David Beasley at Hotel Westin in Dhaka.

David Beasley has lauded Bangladesh for providing shelter to the Rohingya refugees.

If the repatriation process of the Rohingyas is delayed, they will be transferred to Bhashan Char of Noakhali, Maya said.

The Rohingya people have been fleeing persecution in the Rakhine state of Myanmar and entering Bangladesh since August 25.

This is the most recent flare-up in the region that comes following alleged attacks by ARSA insurgents on military outposts. The Myanmar military has launched a systematic offensive since then and the current situation in the region has been termed by the UN as a "textbook example of ethnic cleansing."