ALP urges junta to allow unfettered delivery of humanitarian aid to Arakan State’s needy

By Admin 02 Sep 2023

DMG Newsroom
2 September 2023, Sittwe

The Arakan Liberation Party (ALP) has urged Myanmar’s military regime to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian assistance to people in Arakan State who have suffered from armed conflict, a cyclone of historic proportions, and more recent flooding.

The ALP held separate talks with the regime after it and four other signatories to the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) held a three-day meeting in Naypyitaw. At the separate meeting with the regime, the ALP asked that people in Arakan State be supplied with humanitarian assistance.

“People are short of food supplies in Arakan State due to Cyclone Mocha. We discussed that,” said ALP chairperson Saw Mra Razar Min. “We also discussed allowing us to participate in matters related to humanitarian work in areas controlled by the ethnic armed organisations. We specifically talked about assistance for people in Arakan State.”

An activist from Rathedaung town said: “We should welcome it if the ALP has a real desire to participate in [relief efforts] in areas controlled by the Arakan Army, and the ALP walks the walk. But if the ALP only wants to show the people, by working in tandem with the regime, that its administrative mechanism is still in operation, it will only draw criticism.”

Many local people in Arakan State have been displaced by armed conflict since late 2018. Some 60,000 people remain living in displacement camps.

While more than 1 million people were still struggling to recover from the devastating cyclone in May, they were hit by flooding in the first week of August. Many are struggling to overcome the double shocks.

Martin Griffiths, UN under-secretary general and head of the United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, held talks with junta leader Min Aung Hlaing on the provision of humanitarian assistance in Myanmar on August 15. The following  day, the UN relief agency chief visited Arakan State and observed the situation on the ground.

The regime still restricts UN agencies, nongovernmental organisations and civil society organisations when it comes to their delivery of humanitarian assistance to displacement camps and disaster victims.

Many people in Arakan State who fell victim to the cyclone and flooding are struggling to recover as the regime continues to impose restrictions on the delivery of humanitarian assistance to them.