A Rohingya woman holds her baby and a destroyed house in a refugee camp in Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine state, on May 16. /Sai Aung Main/AFP/Getty Images
Published on Tuesday 22:12 JST on 2023.06.13
(CNN) The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Thursday that Myanmar’s military junta has suspended its mandate to deliver humanitarian aid to Rakhine state devastated by Cyclone Mocha.
“At a time when our assistance is needed most, we have been forced to suspend deliveries of food, water and evacuation supplies,” Balakrishnan, OCHA Myanmar Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator, said in a statement.
On the 14th of last month, Mocha struck the western part of the country with one of the largest forces in Myanmar’s history. Rakhine State was hit by strong winds with wind speeds exceeding 55 m/s, causing serious damage to about 1.6 million people. These include Rohingya residents, an ethnic minority forced to live as refugees and dependent on humanitarian supplies.
OCHA announced last week that it has provided shelter and related supplies to 110,000 disaster victims in the state, and provided food to 300,000 people in need.
The rainy season has arrived, and some disaster-affected areas have suffered heavy rain and floods, which have affected reconstruction work to a certain extent.
Cyclone hits roads in northern Rakhine town = May 14
Aid sources recently told CNN that travel within the state is already severely restricted and aid groups must apply for permits a month in advance.
Even after the Mocha attack, the junta did not lift the restriction, so the United Nations negotiated with authorities to get permission to deliver supplies. Coverage was supposed to be expanded further this month, but the license was withdrawn. Aid plans for neighboring Chin State have also been put on hold.
On the 8th, the international medical non-governmental organization Doctors Without Borders also announced the suspension of permission to Rakhine State.
State aid groups working in the state also said they were concerned about access being restricted and supplies confiscated.
