UN visit to Myanmar's Rakhine thwarted by bad weather

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A UN visit to Myanmar's conflict-battered Rakhine state was postponed on Thursday, thwarting efforts to reach the epicenter of violence for the first time since the start of a massive exodus of minority Rohingya Muslims.

The UN has urged Myanmar to allow humanitarian access to northern parts of Rakhine state since violence erupted in late August, forcing around 480,000 Rohingya Muslims to flee.

On Wednesday the UN said it had been told its representatives could join a government-steered trip to the area on Thursday, but the visit did not take place.

"The government-organized visit was postponed to next week because of weather conditions," a spokesman from the Office of the UN Resident Coordinator in Myanmar said, without giving further details.

Rohingya refugees now live in overcrowded makeshift sites in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. /UNHCR Photo

International aid groups fear tens of thousands of Rohingya Muslims who remain in northern parts of Rakhine are in urgent need of food, medicine and shelter after over a month of military operations.

A second Chinese cargo plane carrying relief supplies for Rohingya refugees arrived in Bangladesh's southeastern Chittagong region on Thursday, after the first one on Wednesday. Relief materials included about 2,000 tents and 3,000 blankets.

Myanmar had around 1.1 million Rohingya before August 25 attacks by militants from the minority group sparked a massive security crackdown. The number has halved since then.

Rakhine has long been a cauldron of ethnic and religious tensions, but the last five years have seen communal relations plunge to their worst yet.

The UN Security Council is due to meet on the crisis later Thursday.

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Source(s): AFP ,Xinhua News Agency