Bangladesh backs UN aid corridor proposal to troubled Myanmar

DHAKA: Bangladesh´s interim government said on Tuesday it was open to a UN aid corridor through its territory to reach starving civilians in Myanmar´s Rakhine state.

But the proposal, raised by United Nations chief Antonio Guterres on a visit to Bangladesh in March, has also sparked widespread criticism by politicians in Dhaka. Around a million members of the persecuted and mostly Muslim Rohingya live in squalid relief camps in Bangladesh, most of whom arrived after fleeing a 2017 military crackdown in neighbouring Myanmar.

Bangladesh, and the UN, want to provide stable conditions in Myanmar for Rohingya to eventually return -- but in their old homeland in Rakhine state, the rebel Arakan Army (AA) stands off against junta forces.

On Monday Myanmar marked one month since suffering its fiercest earthquake in more than a century, with military bombardments unabated despite a humanitarian truce in the four-year civil war, as thousands of survivors camp in makeshift shelters.

“Our position is that should there be a UN-led humanitarian support to the state of Rakhine, Bangladesh would be willing to provide logistic support,” Khalilur Rahman, the interim government´s adviser on Rohingya issues, told AFP.

“We believe that the UN-supported humanitarian aid would help stabilise Rakhine and create conditions for the return of the refugees.” But Rahman said the aid route was only at a “consultation stage” and would require consensus among multiple groups.

“We are in touch with the UN and other concerned parties in this regard,” he said. Touhid Hossain, foreign affairs adviser in the interim government, said on Sunday that Dhaka would consider a “humanitarian passage”, provided the UN agrees to certain conditions.

But that prompted worry among some powerful Bangladeshi political parties. Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, secretary general of the key Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), said the interim government must consult with others.

“A humanitarian passage through Bangladesh is intertwined with the independence and sovereignty of our country, as well as regional peace and stability,” Fakhrul told a rally. Jamaat-e-Islami chief Shafiqur Rahman said his party was concerned about related “security issues”.

Louise Barber, from the UN office in Bangladesh, said the proposal required the approval of the authorities in Bangladesh and Myanmar. “Any humanitarian support, or supplies across the border from Bangladesh to Myanmar, will first need to be agreed between the two governments,” Barber said.