19-6-2013 — /europawire.eu/ — Greater efforts must be made to help vulnerable people at risk from flooding and disease in Burma’s Rakhine and Kachin States and support peace talks to resolve Burma’s inter-communal conflicts, Development Minister Alan Duncan has said on a visit to Burma.
In Burma, Alan Duncan met senior ministers in the Burmese government, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, ethnic leaders and civil society groups to discuss how the UK can help to support peace talks to resolve Burma’s inter-communal conflicts and help with the country’s continued development.
During a visit to Rakhine, one year on from the start of violence that has seen 140,000 mostly Rohingya Muslims displaced from their homes, the minister saw how British support has already helped to combat the effects of monsoon rains by providing urgently-needed clean water, sanitation facilities and nutritional feeding for infants for more than 80,000 people.
Alan Duncan said:
The situation I have seen in Rakhine today is getting desperate. The monsoon rains have started with some families still living in tents, exposed to the elements and at serious risk of flooding and disease. The plight of those in Kachin is equally worrying. Humanitarian agencies in both Kachin and in Rakhine are doing what they can, but it is simply not enough and sustained access is critical.
UK humanitarian support is making a difference and we are actively looking at what more we can do, but now the international community must wake up to these forgotten crises and come together to find lifesaving support and a lasting solution.
The communities too must also work together towards a peaceful resolution. In particular, the Rohingya people must be allowed freedom of movement and freedom to work. No country can end aid dependency if some people are locked out of jobs and growth.
The Minister also raised the plight of the 80,000 people in Kachin who still cannot return home as a result of violent conflict. The UK is currently the largest bilateral humanitarian donor to Kachin State.
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