UN Teams Given First Access To Myanmar's Rakhine

The UN began work Wednesday inside Myanmar's violence-torn northern Rakhine state, the first time its agencies have been granted permission to operate there since more than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims fled the area last year.

Yangon, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 12th Sep, 2018 ) :The UN began work Wednesday inside Myanmar's violence-torn northern Rakhine state, the first time its agencies have been granted permission to operate there since more than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims fled the area last year.

The UN has been waiting for access to the epicentre of the military's "clearance operations" against the Rohingya minority since June when its refugee and development agencies signed a deal with the government.

Its work is highly sensitive inside Rakhine, a state where Buddhist locals stand accused of helping the army chase out their Muslim neighbours.

The task is complicated further as the UN's rights arm is expected to heavily censure Myanmar again in the coming days when it publishes in full the findings of its investigation into atrocities against the Rohingya.

On Friday, specialists from the UNHCR and UNDP agencies were finally given permission to enter northern Rakhine before work began on Wednesday to assess local conditions.

"The team is on the ground and commenced with the first assessments today," UNHCR spokeswoman Aoife McDonnell told AFP.

This first step of the UN's "confidence-building measures" is expected to take two weeks and will cover 23 villages and three additional clusters of hamlets.

It was not immediately clear which villages they will visit or which communities the UN teams will consult.

The expectation is this "very initial and small step in terms of access will be expanded rapidly to all areascovered" by the agreement, McDonnell said.