A U.N. official has urged Myanmar to grant aid workers "predictable, sustained access" to Rakhine state, where fighting between government troops and rebels has displaced nearly 33,000 people since late last year, saying lack of aid has cost lives.
Ursula Mueller, a U.N. assistant secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, said authorities had turned down her requests to meet those displaced by the conflict in a region barred to most aid groups since the fighting broke out.
"We need access – predictable, sustained access – to reach the people in need," Mueller told reporters late on Tuesday, at the end of a six-day visit to the southeast Asian nation.
"If the assistance, including mobile clinics, cannot get to the people, they just don’t have the services and their needs are not being met and some people are dying."
During her visit, Mueller met senior officials in the capital, Naypyitaw, including state counselor Aung San Suu Kyi who said she was working towards "development and social cohesion" in Rakhine.
"I was pointing out the humanitarian needs that are existing that need to be urgently met," she added.
Mueller also visited camps outside Sittwe, the state's capital, where thousands of Rohingya have been confined since a previous bout of violence in 2012. Most lack citizenship and face curbs on movement and access to basic services.
Mueller, who is also a deputy coordinator for emergency relief, said she had discussed the strategy with officials.
"It's not enough to erect buildings on the same site while the underlying causes are not addressed," she added. "People have no freedom of movement. They are losing hope after seven years in this camp."
The Rohingya, described by the UN as the world's most persecuted people, have faced heightened fears of attack since dozens were killed in communal violence in 2012.
According to Amnesty International, more than 750,000 Rohingya refugees, mostly women and children, fled Myanmar and crossed into Bangladesh after Myanmar forces launched a crackdown on the minority Muslim community in August 2017.
Since Aug. 25, 2017, nearly 24,000 Rohingya Muslims have been killed by Myanmar’s state forces, according to a report by the Ontario International Development Agency (OIDA).
The UN has also documented mass gang rapes, killings -- including of infants and young children -- brutal beatings and disappearances committed by Myanmar state forces.
In a report, UN investigators said such violations may have constituted crimes against humanity
