Sept. 10 (UPI) — The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, a Rohingya insurgent group in Myanmar, declared a temporary ceasefire on Saturday.
The monthlong cessation of military operations will take place from Sept. 10 to Oct. 9, to allow humanitarian groups to respond to the crisis in Myanmar’s Rakhine state.
“ARSA strongly encourages all concerned humanitarian actors resume their humanitarian assistance to all victims of the humanitarian crisis, irrespective of ethnic or religious background during the ceasefire period,” the group said in a statement.
About 130,000 more Rohingya Muslims fled Myanmar from Bangladesh on Friday, nearly doubling the count from earlier this week.
The United Nations said more than 290,000 people crossed the border from Myanmar into Bangladesh over the last two weeks since an Aug. 25 crackdown on the stateless ethnic minority after, the military says, Rohingya militants attacked police posts.
Humanitarian agencies are seeking $77 million to assist the massive influx of people who have fled to the country from Myanmar and struggled to find space at existing camps and settlements and lack access to basic services at new settlements.
“Before this latest crisis agencies were already working on the ground, but the influx has overwhelmed the services that were in place,” Robert Watkins, U.N. Resident Coordinator in Bangladesh, said. “To support the new arrivals there is now an urgent need for 60,000 new shelters, as well as food, clean water and health services, including specialist mental health services and support for survivors of sexual violence.”
The U.N. Central Emergency Response Fund allocated $7 million to allow agencies to provide life-saving assistance to an estimated 75,000 people in the three new spontaneous settlements.
