US provides USD 44 m as assistance for Rohingyas

The United States (US), through the US Agency for International Development (USAID), has agreed to provide an additional sum of USD 44 million as humanitarian assistance to Bangladesh to meet the urgent needs of Rohingya refugees.

The US has so far given over $299 million as humanitarian assistance for displaced Rohingyas since October 1, 2016, the Dhaka Tribune reports.

During his visit to the Kutapalong Camp in Cox's Bazar, USAID Administrator Mark Green announced this new funding under which emergency food assistance, shelter and medical care will be provided to millions of people affected by the ongoing conflict in the Rakhine, Shan and Kachin States of Myanmar.

This assistance will also support humanitarian organisations, including the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), UNICEF, the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement to provide emergency shelter, water, sanitation, health care, and psycho-social support to people affected by the crisis.

More than 700,000 Rohingya refugees are languishing in Bangladeshi refugee camps after fleeing a brutal Myanmar army campaign launched in August last year.

The United Nations had said the scorched-earth operation, which had left hundreds of villages burned to ash in Myanmar's Rakhine state, amounted to 'ethnic cleansing'.