Myanmar cancels UN Rakhine visit

Some Rohingya people make their way to the shore at Shah Porir Dwip in Teknaf under Cox's Bazar on Thursday as their influx continues. Hundreds of them have arrived here from Myanmar by wooden boats under the cover of darkness. — Reuters

The United Nations says a planned visit to Myanmar's Rakhine state, which has seen a mass exodus of Rohingya Muslims, has been cancelled by the authorities, report agencies.

The visit would have been the first by UN officials to the area since violence broke out on August 25. From that day so far some 501,800 new arrivals of Rohingyas from Myanmar were reported. However, the influx is now slower than the recent past.

In other developments, UK state minister for foreign affairs Mark Field claimed that Suu Kyi assured him that Rohingyas would be taken back from Bangladesh while international aid groups in Myanmar urged the government to allow their free access to Rakhine State.

UN aid personnel were forced to leave Rakhine when the military began a crackdown on Rohingya militants behind attacks on security personnel.

A UN spokesperson in Yangon told a news outlet no reason was given by the Myanmar government for the move to UN visit in Rakhine.

The UN has been pushing to visit Rakhine to investigate the flight of Rohingya Muslims to Bangladesh.

But the military say they are only targeting militants. Earlier this week, they said bodies of 45 Hindus killed by Rohingya militants had been found in a mass grave.

Assessing the situation on the ground in Rakhine is difficult because access is tightly controlled.

But humanitarian groups say that in addition to those who have fled to Bangladesh, say many people are displaced within Rakhine and hundreds of thousands lack food, shelter and medical care.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Wednesday, before the cancellation, that chiefs of UN agencies were due to take part in the trip, which he hoped would be "a first step towards much freer and wider access to the area".

Later on Thursday the UN Security Council was due to meet in New York to discuss the crisis.

Myanmar's de facto head of government Aung San Suu Kyi was claimed to have assured the UK state minister that Rohingyas would be taken back from Bangladesh, the British minister said at a press briefing in Dhaka after his visit to Rakhine State.

"She assured me she wants all refugees to return to Burma," he said, adding that Suu Kyi is in a "difficult situation" and trying to find the "fine line" between international pressure and domestic compulsion.

The United Kingdom proposed three 'options', including implementation of the recommendation of the Kofi Anan Commission to resolve the crisis.

Mark Field presented the 'options'.

"All forms of violence in Myanmar must be stopped and the government must allow all humanitarian access in Rakhine State and it will have to urgently implement the recommendations of Kofi Anan Commission." he said.

"In my view, these three options will help end the violence and allow Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists and other community members to live side by side in a peaceful manner," the UK minister said adding that their country is encouraging Myanmar to take immediate action to end the problem.

"Suu Kyi is in a difficult situation and she has no control over the military, and military is constitutionally more powerful there, however, in a meeting with me yesterday (Wednesday) she assured that she wants all refugees to return to Myanmar," he said.

Field was the first foreign minister allowed in the Rakhine state after the brutal military crackdown began on Aug 25.

He, however, cautioned that if Suu Kyi falls in Myanmar, then the military would have "full-fledged" power and the situation would be "the worst", arguing in favour of a diplomatic solution rather than punitive sanctions at this stage.

International aid groups in Myanmar have urged the government to allow free access to Rakhine State as the government has stopped international non-government groups (INGOs), as well as UN agencies, from working in the north of the state, citing insecurity.

"INGOs in Myanmar are increasingly concerned about severe restrictions on humanitarian access and impediments to the delivery of critically needed humanitarian assistance throughout Rakhine State," aid groups said in a statement late on Wednesday.

An unknown number of people are internally displaced, while hundreds of thousands lack food, shelter and medical services, said the groups, which include Care International, Oxfam and Save the Children.

"We urge the government and authorities of Myanmar to ensure that all people in need in Rakhine State have full, free and unimpeded access to life-saving humanitarian assistance."

The government has put the Myanmar Red Cross in charge of aid to the state, with the help of the International Committee of the Red Cross. But the groups said they feared insufficient aid was getting through given the "enormous" needs.

Relations between the government and aid agencies had been difficult for months, with some officials accusing groups of helping the insurgents.

Aid groups dismissed the accusations, which they said had inflamed anger towards them among Buddhists in the communally divided state.

The groups said threats, allegations and misinformation had led to "genuine fears" among aid workers, and they called for an end to "misinformation and unfounded accusations" and for the government to ensure safety.