Rakhine government delays IDP resettlement plan, says ECC
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| United Nations special envoy to Myanmar Vijay Nambiar (right) talks with residents of an IDP camp at Myae Pone Township in Rakhine State on August 24. Mr Nambiar visited Rakhine from August 23 to 25. Photo: Nyunt Win/EPA |
By Kay Zue
August 27, 2014
Rakhine Chief Minister U Maung Maung Ohn has told the state's Emergency Coordination Centre that a plan to resettle about 170,000 people living in camps for the internally displaced has been delayed, ECC member U Than Tun told Mizzima on August 27.
U Maung Maung Ohn advised the ECC of the decision at about 6pm the previous day, said U Than Tun.
The State Minister for Transport and Construction, U Hla Han, had announced earlier on August 26 that the Rakhine government would resettle the IDPs in October as part of the Rakhine Action Plan unveiled on July 23.
Speaking on August 26, U Than Tun criticised the state government for not discussing the plan in advance with the ECC, which was appointed by the Union government to oversee the activities of humanitarian organisations in Rakhine after Medicins Sans Frontieres was expelled from the state in February.
IDP camps in the state capital, Sittway, and nine other cities and towns are sheltering more than 140,000 Muslims and more than 30,000 ethnic Rakhine.
