Austria approves aid package for Rohingya refugees

Vienna, Sep 23 (IANS/WAM) The Austrian government has approved a humanitarian aid package worth 350,000 euros for the Rohingya Muslim minority who have fled violence in Myanmar and crossed into neighbouring Bangladesh.

"Austria not only condemns the violence against the minority of the Rohingyas in Myanmar but also seeks to provide quick on the ground assistance," said Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz in a statement on Saturday.

Kurz said that Austria wants to ensure that the much-needed humanitarian aid reaches Rohingyas who have ended up in camps in the Bangladeshi district of Cox's Bazar, which already had hundreds of thousands of refugees who had fled prior rounds of violence in Myanmar.

The Rohingya refugees began fleeing Myanmar from August 25 when Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) rebels attacked police checkposts and killed 12 security personnel, triggering a military crackdown.

Myanmar has said its military operations in Rakhine were in response to the August attack and that the military was battling terrorists.

--IANS/WAM

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