Arakan News Agency
A tropical storm from the Bay of Bengal, accompanied by heavy rains, uprooted the camps of displaced Rohingya people in the city of Akyab, capital of Arakan province on last Sunday morning, causing severe damage to the temporary camps inhabited by the Muslim minority since June 2012.
More than 120,000 people, mostly from the Rohingya minority, live in makeshift camps for displaced people on the outskirts of the city Akyab since the outbreak of mass violence in Arakan state in 2012.
A rainstorm on last Sunday, in Kyawtaw City and the town of Akyab (Sittwe), uprooted some of the Rohingya refugee camps as a result of the storm
There was a state of panic and fear among those displaced from the camps, fearing that the storm would return with heavy rains
Rohingya activists expressed their concern about the worsening living conditions of the displaced Rohingya families living in these primitive camps, which have become dilapidated, disordered and says these are even unsuitable for animals, demanding the Myanmar government to allow all Rohingya refugees to return to their homes and villages immediately, to restore citizenship rights and to end discrimination and racism against them in Arakan State.
A committee set up by Myanmar government headed by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan made recommendations last month, to immediately allowing the Rohingya Muslims to return to their homes, eventually closing the displacement camps set up for their shelter. The Myanmar government said it would actually begin in the removal of three camps for them.
