Narinjara News, August 1, 2022

A total of 55094 rice-bags, donated by Nippon Foundation for IDP refugees in nine townships of RakhineState, are yet to be delivered asthe ruling military council is not given permission for the same.

“We planned to donate the bags of rice to the refugees, who are not getting regular food items, in Mayitself.

But due to the military tensionsbetween the army personnel and Arakan Army members, the authority has prohibited the supply,” said  U Win Aung, the coordinator of Nippon Foundation'shumanitarian aid.
Mr Sasakawa, president of Nippon Foundation, donated the  rice-bags to the needy Rakhine refugees as hearrived in Myanmar during November 2021.

"The foundation decided to offer one rice-bag to each family in IDP camps. The military council agreed todistribute those in May, but it cancelledthe program because clashes erupted in various parts of Rakhine State,” added the coordinator.

However, apprehensions surfaced that if the rice-bags are not used on time, the rice grains will be uselessafter some months.

“By now, some rice-bags start rotting. So the early distribution (and use) of rice-bags should be emphasized,” pointed outWin Aung.

He also added that military authorities should consider leaving aside the political issues. The humanitarianaid should not be prohibited, heasserted.

Nearly 60000 refugees in the townships of  Buthidaung, Rathedaung, Ponna kyunt, Kyauk Taw, Mrauk U,Minbya, Pauk Taw, Maebon and Ann will bebenefited with the aid. Initially the authority agreed to the proposal, but later it turned back tothe initiative.

Narinjara News tried to contact  Rakhine State council spokesman U Hla Thein through the telephone over thematter, but he did not respond.

Convincing sources claim that the military council suspects the distributed rice-bags might go to theAA members, and hence it prohibitedthe action.

An official from Rathedaung camp informed that the refugees are living with the financial support of Kyats18,000 per person from the World FoodProgram. Currently there are more than 60,000 IDPs across Rakhine State and many  camps do not haveregular food supplies that increases thedifficulties.

Some refugees are now frustrated and they may go for extreme actions like suicides. A 50-year-old father ofthree children from Kyauk Taw refugeecamp stabbed himself yesterday due to the  food crisis, however he survived.