jelajah Untukmu Rohingya coordinator says flotilla carrying relief to Rohingya may have to unload in Bangladesh and distribute it to refugee camps there.
SELAYANG: The organiser of a mission to ship aid to Myanmar’s embattled minority Rohingyas will change its course for Bangladesh if the Myanmar government does not allow the flotilla into its waters.
Mohd Hakim Mohd Nor, the coordinator for Jelajah Untukmu Rohingya, which will be sending aid to the persecuted Rohingyas, says the flotilla will head to Bangladesh’s Teknaf port if it cannot enter Myanmar’s Sittwe port.
“If we cannot enter Sittwe, we will head to Teknaf and unload the goods there to be brought to Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh,” he said.
Hakim said Teknaf was close to Myanmar waters and that the group members had visas to enter both Myanmar and Bangladesh.
Prior to this, Zaw Htay, a spokesman for the Myanmar President’s office denied receiving any request from the flotilla mission’s organiser and said the country would not allow their arrival if they did not get permission.
However, Htay vowed that the flotilla would not be attacked. It would only be denied entry.
Hakim said before the flotilla leaves on January 10, he would meet with representatives of the Myanmar government to seek permission once more.
“God willing, I will go with the Malaysia Islamic Organisations Consultative Council (Mapim) and other NGOs to Yangon, in Myanmar before our flotilla leaves for Myanmar, to ensure the safety of this mission.
“The Myanmar government says we have not applied for a permit, so we will try to meet representatives of their government.”
Hakim said the Myanmar government did not have to worry about the aid mission, as they would not be carrying any weapons. It was purely a humanitarian mission, he stressed.
“If there are problems, then it shows the Myanmar government has no humanity. We are only delivering food, clothes and medicine. What is wrong with that?”
In November, it was reported that Mapim and 28 other international NGOs would be sending 1,000 tonnes of rice, medical aid and other necessities to the Rohyingas.
Before this, Myanmar said access to the Rakhine state would be open to aid missions, but some Rohingyas are barred from receiving aid due to security reasons.
In recent times, an act of violence against the Rohingyas, reportedly carried out by Myanmar security forces has drawn international condemnation.
According to some reports, hundreds have been killed and raped, and tens of thousands displaced.
The last time there was a mission by a Malaysian NGO to ship aid was in October when Dr Fauziah Hassan, a Malaysian aid worker who is part of a humanitarian mission called Women’s Boat to Gaza, was detained by Israeli authorities who had seized the mission’s Gaza-bound ship.
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