Over 5,000 Rohingya in emergency need of food

RFA Burmese
2025.01.02

Refugees are seen at the Sand Creek( Yhe Chaung) Rohingya refugee camp in Sittwe Township, Rakhine State on March 22, 2023. Photo: RFA

The Rohingya living in the Western Police Rohingya refugee camp in Pouk Taw Township, Rakhine State, are struggling to eat, drink and are in urgent need of food, the Rohingya told RFA today, Jan. 3.

It is said that about 5,000 people have been sheltered in the refugee camp in the west and have not received help from outside organizations for nearly a year.

At present, the refugees are forced to drink rice due to food shortages, said a Rohingya who did not want to be named in the Western Police refugee camp.

"The main need is rice, the hungry people in the camp right now are starving, and they have to drink rice soup (boiled rice) because there is not enough rice to cook, and now they have not received help from international organizations for about a year.

The victims also say that a pregnant mother, an elderly person and a young child died last December 2024 due to lack of health care and medicine, as well as food shortages.

The military council has restricted the transport of food, medicine, and other goods into Rakhine State, hampering the delivery of humanitarian aid, according to UNOCHA.

In addition, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) warned last November 7 that as many as two million people in Rakhine could suffer from food starvation from around March and April, as well as a ban on aid to local and international organizations.

RFA reached out by telephone to the head of the state legislature, who spoke to the Rakhine State Military Council, about the situation, but did not return a phone call.