Arakan News Agency
Myanmar border authorities have started building 30 new patrol stations along the country’s border with Bangladesh in an effort to beef up security in the volatile northern part of Arakan state following deadly attacks on border police earlier this month, a government official said Friday.
The new stations will be built along the border in Maungdaw township as a security measure for displaced residents when they return home, said Chan Thar, Arakan state’s social welfare minister.
There are already 96 border patrol stations in the area, he said.
“We have been building 30 more security posts, so there will be 126 posts,” he said. “We started building them yesterday. We will deploy more security police as well.”
Humanitarian organizations, however, contend that the violence has displaced as many as 15,000 Rohingya, according to a news release issued Friday by Human Rights Watch.
The New York-based group called on the Myanmar government and army on Friday to ensure that food aid deliveries reach the Rohingya and other vulnerable groups, despite security measures that have cut off assistance to people.
“Recent violence in northern Arakan State has led the army to deny access to aid agencies that provide essential health care and food to people at grave risk,” said Brad Adams, HRW’s Asia director.
The United Nations’ World Food Programme said 50,000 people remain without food aid in Maungdaw township, according to HRW’s news release.
