NAYPYITAW, Myanmar, July 15 (UPI) -- Myanmar's Muslim Rohingya minority, fleeing violence, faces a crisis with members being subjected to abusive treatment by the government, aid groups say.
The aid groups, trying to reach the community in western Arakan state, told Britain's Guardian newspaper many members fleeing the June violence are housed in prison-like displacement camps. The groups warn of an impending humanitarian crisis.
The rioting occurred between the Rohingya and the majority Arakanese in June and already malnutrition rates among the minority are alarming, the aid groups told the newspaper. The violence erupted after the rape and slaying of a local Arakanese woman in May, the newspaper said.
Many of the aid workers assisting the Rohingya in Arakan have been either evacuated or forced to flee, The Guardian said. The state has about 800,000 Rohingya.
"We are worried that malnutrition rates already have and will continue to rise dramatically. If free and direct humanitarian access accompanied by guaranteed security is not granted with the shortest delay, there's no way they won't rise," Tarik Kadir with the Action Against Hunger told the newspaper. The report said with scant medical care reaching the area, the situation is likely to worsen.
The Guardian said the government is seeking to resettle the Rohingya overseas but critics have called it an attempt at mass deportation.
Rohingya members say they are seen as Bangladeshi by the Myanmar government but that neighboring Bangladesh considers them as illegal migrants. The report said a 1982 law refuses to recognize the Rohingya as Burmese citizens, and thousands of them have fled to Bangladesh since then.
Elaine Pearson of Human Rights Watch said her group expects "a strong international response" to any attempt to deport the Rohingya, the report said.
International observers are not allowed to visit northern Arakan state, where the majority of Rohingya live, the report said.
