UNITED NATIONS: The number of Rohingya refugees who fled Myanmar to Bangladesh since late August has reached 480,000, challenging efforts to care for them, China’s Xinhua news agency reported UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric as saying on Tuesday. “The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says that the number of Rohingya refugees who have fled Myanmar into Bangladesh since late August has now topped 480,000,” he said. “This brings the total number of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh to more than 700,000 people.”The Rohingya, a Muslim ethnic minority, are denied citizenship under a 1982 Myanmar citizenship law. During his visit to Bangladesh over the weekend, High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi discussed the importance of working with Bangladeshi authorities. “The World Health Organisation has helped set up a control room for the Bangladeshi Health Ministry operation in Cox’s Bazar,” he said.

Source: New Strait Times September 27, 2017 02:48 UTC