Rohingya militants have declared a month-long truce in order to allow humanitarian aid into Myanmar’s Rakhine state, where military “cleansing operations” have left hundreds dead and forced nearly 300,000 to flee into neighbouring Bangladesh.
The rebel group issued the truce statement on its Twitter account, which is how it generally communicates. It urged Myanmar’s government forces to reciprocate to assist all victims regardless of their background.
“The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) hereby declares a temporary cessation of offensive military operations,” it said in a statement on its Twitter handle @ARSA_Official, adding it was to allow for humanitarian aid to reach the battered region.
The government did not comment immediately.
The rebels’ first known attacks on security posts last October and again on August 25 drew savage military reprisals, culminating in the present crisis.
“The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) hereby declares a temporary cessation of offensive military operations,” it said in a statement on its Twitter handle @ARSA_Official, adding it was to allow for humanitarian aid to reach the battered region.
Some 270,000 refugees have fled Myanmar’s violence-wracked Rakhine state and entered Bangladesh in the last fortnight, most from the Muslim Rohingya minority, the United Nations has said.
“An estimated 270,000 refugees arrived in Bangladesh in the last two weeks,” said Vivian Tan, a spokeswoman for the UN refugee agency.
“They are setting up shelters on the roads or whatever empty space they could find,” she said.
The Rohingya have long been subjected to discrimination in mostly Buddhist Myanmar, which denies them citizenship.
Myanmar’s government regards them as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, even if they have lived in the country for generations.
Existing refugee camps near Bangladesh’s border with Myanmar already hosted around 300,000 Rohingya before the latest upsurge in violence and are now completely overwhelmed.
That has left tens of thousands of new arrivals with nowhere to shelter from the monsoon rains.
The latest figure takes the number of Rohingya refugees who have arrived in Bangladesh since violence erupted last October to 357,000.
Those flocking into Bangladesh have brought with them harrowing testimony of murder, rape and widespread arson by Myanmar’s army.
Most have walked for days and the United Nations says many are sick, exhausted and in desperate need of shelter, food and water.
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