Rohingya crisis: Myanmar Vice President says situation has 'improved' but concerns raised over ongoing exodus to Bangladesh

Rohingya crisis: Myanmar Vice President says situation has 'improved' but concerns raised over ongoing exodus to Bangladesh
By Euronews
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Henry Van Thio tells the United Nations General assembly that there has been no violence in Rakhine state since September 5, although this has been disputed.

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Myanmar’s Vice President Henry Van Thio has sought to ease tensions over the persecution of Rohingya muslims in his country’s Rakhine state, saying the crisis, which his American counterpart Mike Pence described as a threat to the world, had “improved”.

Speaking at the United Nations General Assembly, Van Thio said his government is “deeply concerned” about the mass exodus of hundreds of thousands of people from Myanmar to Bangladesh.

He said: “I am happy to inform you that the situation has improved. No armed clashes have been reported since September 5. Accordingly, we are concerned by reports that the numbers of Muslims crossing into Bangladesh remain unabated.”

The Vice President repeated the government line that the “great majority” of Rohingya Muslims had stayed behind, echoing de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s controversial speech on the matter.

But his statement that there had been no acts of violence or village clearances since early September, has been widely disputed.

Rohingya Muslim survivors recount horrific stories of their loved ones slaughtered by Myanmar’s army. pic.twitter.com/aihvIWC58L

— CJ Werleman (@cjwerleman) September 21, 2017

But there’s two sides to every story.

Kyaw San Tint, a resident of Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine state said: “I don’t think we can live together again because the Rohingya have bombs and weapons. Myanmar’s military forces are limited, we don’t know when they will attack.”

New images show how Rohingya villages have been almost completely wiped out. pic.twitter.com/gp1NM0720Q

— AJ+ (@ajplus) September 21, 2017

More than 400,000 Rohingya have fled Rakhine state, crossing the border into neighbouring Bangladesh, where huge numbers of makeshift camps have been erected to house them.

Aid agencies are struggling to meet the basic needs of the refugees as services, ranging from food, education and health care, to water, sanitation, and solid-waste management, become strained.

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