UN warns of deteriorating humanitarian access in Rakhine, Burma

June 10 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The spokesman for the Secretary General of the United Nations, Stéphane Dujarric, has warned this Friday about the deterioration of humanitarian access in the Burmese state of Rakhine, with a Rohingya majority and hit by the passage of cyclone ‘Mocha’ on May 14.

“Existing travel authorizations were temporarily suspended yesterday, pending centralized decisions in Naypyidaw. Initial approval of humanitarian transportation and distribution plans for cyclone-affected townships in Rakhine has also been rescinded. Part of the replenishment of relief supplies from outside the country,” the spokesman said at a press conference.

Dujarric has assured that these decisions, which coincide with the “urgent need” for an expansion of aid, will affect “hundreds of thousands of men, women and children” in the region, where the passage of the cyclone left at least 400 dead, according to the country’s opposition.

Cyclone Mocha, the most powerful cyclone to hit the Bay of Bengal in the last 10 years, made landfall in Myanmar on May 14 with winds of up to 250 kilometers per hour and heavy rain. According to estimates, approximately 2.2 million people are in the affected area, of whom at least 200,000 are in a particularly vulnerable situation and require assistance.