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World bodies start rushing relief to Rohingya refugees

By Farid Hossain
International relief for tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees got under way virtually on Saturday after the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) granted I lakh dollars tn emergency aid in response to Bangladesh s appeal
Saying Bangladesh was fuc Ing a "grave crisis" High Commissioner Sadako Ogata promised In Geneva that 'additional funds will be released as soon as possible as my office receives the more detailed assessment of the needs."
The aid was released on Friday tn response to Bangladesh's appeal for international help for the refugees
who lied Myanmar s (Burma.) Arakan province and took refuge in Bangladesh, a UNHCR official told The Daily Star in Dhaka on Saturday.
An estimated one lakh refugees have poured into Bangladesh since last summer to escape alleged atrocities by military Junta.
S Wfjcralrre. who Is leading a two-member UNHCR advance assessment mission, said Bangladesh's formal go-ahead for the UN agency s relief work came on Friday
Wljcratnc and his team member Shamsnl Bari reached Cox's Bazar on Saturday to as sess the needs of the refugees
They will be joined by Christopher Carpenter, a
deputy director al UNHCR* Regional Bureau for Asia and OcerUa who arrives on Sunday followed by a technical gram from Geneva next week
The assessment mission will draw up. In consultation with Bangladesh government a comprehensive assistance programme. Wljeratne said
The results of this mission will form the basis of an inter national appeal for help to the refugee* said Wtjcratne who is based in the Philippines
Shamsul Bari the UNHCR representative In Malaysia, said the primary role of Hie UN agency will be to provide pro lection to the refugee* and help Bangladesh find oul a durable solution
Bari, a Bangladeshi official, said the mission will work In cooperation with the focal offi rials in drawing up a programme of assistant c
The assistance will Include food, shelter water and medicines.
The mission will also help Bangladesh prepare a list of the refugees he said.
Bangladesh* appeal for In tematlonal help was conveyed to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees by Foreign Minister Mustafizur Rahman In a feller on Thursday
The appeal wa» made as hopes for a bilateral solution to the refugee problem were fad
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Tic refugees, arriving on an average rate of 1.500 a day. are straining limited resources of Bangladesh, which has so far set up four camps that can shelter upto 30.000 people.
The government. dLstribut-tng handouts of rice, wheat and bread for past few weeks, finds the situation going out of control as torrent of refugees continued.
Though Myanmar held four flag meetings and returned the arms and ammunitions its border guards looted during Dec. 21 attack on Rejupara BDR outpost, it failed to send its Foreign Minister Ohn Gyaw to Bangladesh to discuss the cri-
Gyaw was scheduled to arrive in Dliaka first week of this month. The prospects of the visit are now clouded because of Myanmar's non-c«x>peration.
Diplomatic sources In Dhaka said Bangladesh had no other choice but to ask for International help as political and official-level talks failed to Ereduce an agreement to scale ack the military forces or stem the flow of refugees.
Myanmar has marshalled at least 55.000 troops along Its 175-mlle border with Bangladesh since the December attack tliat killed one BDR jawan and one civilian.
French charity
Reuter from Paris adds : A French medical charity said yesterday H was sending 38
tonnes of relief aid to southeast Bangladesh where 100.000 Muslim refugees from Myanmar face starvation and disease as the rainy season up proaches.
'Medcclns Sans Frontlcres' said nearly 30 per cent of the refugee children were suffering from malnutrition and doctors feared a measles epidemic.
The appearance of several cases of measles has given rise to fear of an epidemic which would present a serious danger for the children. Medecins Sans Frontlercs will embark on an anti-measles vaccination campaign for children under 12 years," tlie Paris-based charity said.
It said 40 medical workers would fly from Paris to Chittagong today with a cargo of food, measles vaccines, water treatment chemicals, medical supplies and plastic tents for temporary shelters for the refugees.
UNB from Cox's Bazar reports : At least 18 children died to diarrhoea during the fast few weeks In three camps In Ramu thana, crammed with Myanmar refugees, while hundreds more are suffering from malnutrition, local sources said
Voluntary social workers who are helping the refugees at the camps said that malnu trition among children and pregnant women In the makeshift camps has posed a serious problem.