Australian assistance for displaced people in Rakhine State, Myanmar

Media release-4 June 2013

Foreign Minister Bob Carr today announced that Australia will provide an additional $1.5 million to help displaced people in Rakhine State, Myanmar.

Senator Carr said Australia will support UNICEF to provide 40,000 people with safe drinking water and better facilities for hygiene and sanitation in the affected areas.

“This new funding includes 8,000 buckets and water purification kits, and hygiene kits including soap, sanitary napkins, toothbrushes and toothpaste, and 2,000 latrines and hand washing stations,” Senator Carr said.

“The rainy season poses increased health threats for more than 140,000 people who are still displaced in Rakhine State following communal violence last year.

“There is a high risk of acute diarrhoea and other waterborne diseases, including cholera.

“Assistance improves access to safe drinking water by upgrading water points and providing water-proof latrines to reduce contamination, and providing basic supplies such as soap.”

Senator Carr reaffirmed Australia’s commitment in assisting to resolve communal tensions, supporting the peace process, and providing humanitarian assistance to those affected by recent ethnic and sectarian conflict.

“Australia is supporting local efforts to bring peace to regions affected by conflict in Myanmar,” Senator Carr said.

“We continue to call for a efforts to resolve the underlying causes of the unrest in Rakhine State.”

This contribution takes Australia’s total humanitarian assistance to people in Rakhine to over $5.79 million since the violence last year, making us one of the largest donors to the emergency.

Our previous funding has already made a difference by:

• providing food to more than 100,000 displaced people
• delivering tents and other emergency shelter materials to people who have fled their homes
• providing blankets, clothes, mosquito nets and other essentials for up to 14,000 people living in temporary shelters
• providing protection for vulnerable people, including around 7,000 children, who have been separated from their families.

Australia continues to urge all parties to work together to resolve the underlying causes of the situation and support the reconciliation of the two communities.

Media enquiries:
Minister’s office: (02) 6277 7500
DFAT Media Liaison: (02) 6261 1555

India can’t solve Lanka’s political issues: BJP

FRIDAY, 07 JUNE 2013 

A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led team, which is currently on a tour in Sri Lanka, has told the war-ravaged Lankan Tamils that India is ready to provide the “healing touch” but it cannot be expected to solve their political problems the Indian Express reported.

The news report said that the BJP delegation which is touring Sri Lanka made these remakrs while interacting with a wide cross section of political parties and civil society in Jaffna on Wednesday.

The leader of the six member team, Rajya Sabha member Ravi Shankar Prasad, is reported to have said that India was aware that the Tamils of the Northern provinces needed a healing touch and assured them that India was with them.

However, he had made it clear that Lankan Tamils should not expect India to solve their political problems. These would have to be solved by the people themselves through participation in the domestic political processes, the Indian Express reported.

India did not have a magic wand to solve their problems he is reported to have said.

Prasad also made it clear that India saw Sri Lanka as a friendly country and would never de-stabilize it.

The six member Indian team, which has a representative of the Shiv Sena (Suresh Prabhu), an RSS official (Ram Madhav), a political commentator (Swapan Dasgupta) and a human rights activist cum advocate (Monika Arora), was presented a kaleidoscopic view of opinions in Lanka’s Tamil-speaking Northern Province. The team met pro-government and anti-government groups separately, besides top civil and military officials.

Members of the team are also reported to have shown keen interest in the issues the Tamils were facing and asked probing questions. On Thursday, the team met MPs from the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) at Hilton Hotel in Colombo.