ASEAN mulls humanitarian aid for Myanmar's Rohingya

A Rohingya Muslim woman picks up her child at an unregistered refugee camp in Teknaf, Bangladesh. (photo by Munir uz Zaman, AFP)

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ASEAN mulls humanitarian aid for Myanmar’s Rohingya

JAKARTA -- Southeast Asian nations are considering humanitarian assistance for Rohingya refugees facing persecution in Myanmar, the region's bloc said Wednesday.

Association of Southeast Asian Nations secretary general Surin Pitsuwan said the bloc should be "part of solution to the problem" that escalated in June with a bloody clash that displaced around 60,000 people, mostly Muslim-minority Rohingya.

"I have made a proposal (to our member countries) that ASEAN should once again offer humanitarian assistance, like we did during the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis four-and-a-half years ago," Surin told reporters, referring to a storm that left 138,000 people dead or missing in Myanmar in May 2008.

He did not give any details or name the country where aid could be delivered.

He said the offer to assist the Rohingya had garnered support from several ASEAN members and that Indonesia and Malaysia, both Muslim-majority nations, had also offered to directly assist the Rohingya.

Around 80 people, both Buddhists and Rohingya, were killed during the June violence in western Myanmar's Rakhine state, according to official figures, while rights groups claim higher death tolls.

"Myanmar becoming the chair of the ASEAN will be the focus of the attention of how it is handling such an issue. There must be some roadmap to the solution", Surin said on the sidelines of ASEAN's 45th anniversary celebrations.

"ASEAN cannot be perceived to be standing by without taking any action on such a big scale of humanitarian difficulty," he added.

Bangladesh last week banned three international agencies from providing assistance to Rohingya refugees who had fled from neighboring Myanmar.

Decades of discrimination have left the Rohingya stateless and they are viewed by the UN as one of the world's most persecuted minorities.

Myanmar's government considers the estimated 800,000 Rohingya in the country to be foreigners while many citizens see them as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and view them with hostility.

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