Starving refugees from Myanmar

The humanitarian disaster that has been unfolding in Myanmar has seen an estimated 123,000 Rohingyas flee to Bangladesh. And we welcome the government move to set up camps for the refugees from Myanmar in Cox's Bazaar. While setting up of a camp is obviously going to be of help to control and account for the refugees, we must emphasise once again that there is need for coordinated efforts with international agencies to get aid to these people as early as possible because authorities are already overstretched in trying to meet the needs of so many people. There is need to build up adequate food stock to face the situation.

That the World Food Programme (WFP) and Office of International Migration (IOM) are helping in setting up these camps and aiding in their running is good news. However, diplomatic efforts must be invigorated to find a just solution to the persecution of the Myanmar ethnic minority across the border which has created the conditions for the large influx of refugees into Bangladesh.

Pending a settlement of the Rohingya crisis, every effort must be made to provide essential supplies to the refugees in these camps. The database being talked about must take shape as soon as possible because we have to keep account and track of every refugee who seeks shelter in Bangladesh. As we pointed out in our editorial yesterday, it is essential that we know the identities of the refugees so that they may be easily repatriated to Myanmar when the situation returns to normalcy.