UN chief in Rohingya refugee camp solidarity visit / Photo: © AFP
UN chief in Rohingya refugee camp solidarity visit
UN chief Antonio Guterres met with Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh Friday, some of the one million people who escaped war in neighbouring Myanmar who are now threatened by dire humanitarian aid cuts.
The UN secretary-general is in the camps in Cox's Bazar for a show of solidarity, and will break the fast for the Islamic holy month of Ramadan with the mostly Muslim persecuted minority.
Many of the refugees have lived in the squalid relief camps since fleeing the 2017 military crackdown in Myanmar.
More than 100,000 refugees are expected to participate in the fast-breaking sunset meal with Guterres, who is accompanied by members of Dhaka's interim government, including its chief advisor, Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus.
US President Donald Trump imposed a freeze on foreign aid in January pending a review, sending shockwaves through the humanitarian community.
Aid funding shortfalls would require a cut in monthly food vouchers from $12.50 to $6.00 per person at the camps, the UN World Food Programme announced earlier this month.
Successive aid cuts have already caused intense hardship among Rohingya in the overcrowded settlements, who are reliant on aid and suffer from rampant malnutrition.
The UN children's agency UNICEF said youngsters in the camps were experiencing the worst levels of malnutrition since 2017, with admissions for severe malnutrition treatment up 27 percent in February compared with the same months in 2024.
UNICEF's representative in Bangladesh Rana Flowers said that cancelled US grants for Bangladesh accounted for around a quarter of her agency's Rohingya refugee response costs.
Bangladesh has struggled to support its refugee population, and Dhaka has said it is exploring ways to secure additional aid for the Rohingya refugees.
Guterres, who held talks with Yunus earlier on Friday in Dhaka, said he appreciated the "close cooperation" between the UN and Dhaka.
Rohingya living in the camps around Cox's Bazar are not allowed to seek employment and are almost entirely dependent on limited humanitarian aid to survive.
Bangladesh is still reeling from its own political crisis after a student-led revolution last year culminated in the overthrow of long-time ruler Sheikh Hasina and her government.
Guterres expressed his "solidarity with Bangladesh's reform and transition process".
(P.Hansen--DTZ)
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