Dr Yunus for 'UN- guaranteed safe zone' in Rakhine

Chief Adviser Professor Dr Yunus on Monday urged the international community to create a "safe zone guaranteed by the UN" for the displaced people in Rakhine and finding ways to support them.

This will be "the best thing to get aid to them," Professor Yunus told Thomas Andrews, the Special Rapporteur of the UN on the situation of Human Rights in Myanmar, who called on him at his office, said a spokesperson for the CA.

Dr Yunus said it could be a "good beginning" to resolve the crisis in Rakhine and that it could prevent thousands of new refugees from entering Bangladesh.

Special Rapporteur Andrews appreciated the Chief Adviser for his three-point proposal on the Rohingya crisis, floated on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting in New York last month.

He said the violence in Rakhine state created an "enormous crisis" in the state, and humanitarian aid was urgently needed for the displaced and starving people, including Rohingya, according to the Chief Adviser's press wing.

The Special Rapporteur said at least 3.1 million people had been displaced in Myanmar, including hundreds of thousands in Rakhine State, where insurgent groups have been fighting against the Myanmar military for years.

He noted that in recent weeks some 30,000 Rohingya had fled their homes in Rakhine and entered Bangladesh, which is already hosting more than a million Rohingya people in camps in the country's southeastern Cox's Bazar border districts.

The Chief Adviser also suggested talks with the international community, including ASEAN, over the violence and displaced people in Rakhine.

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