Irrawaddy-Dec 19
The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) has strongly condemned misappropriation of humanitarian aid after WFP-marked food sacks were discovered at the junta’s Border Guard Police Battalion No. 5 base in Maungdaw Township, Rakhine State. The UN reported last month that up to 2 million people face imminent famine in war-torn Rakhine amid a worsening humanitarian crisis triggered by the 2021 military coup. “Any misappropriation of humanitarian assistance intended for the most vulnerable communities depriving those most in need of life saving assistance is unacceptable,” the WFP said in a statement issued on Wednesday. The condemnation followed a report by the Rakhine-based Arakan Bay News (ABN) that thousands of sacks of rice belonging to the WFP were found at the base after it fell to the Arakan Army (AA) on Dec. 8. Citing reporters who visited the defeated base, ABN reported that junta forces had used the sacks of rice to build bunkers. The ABN report was later confirmed by other local news outlets. WFP said it was currently unable to verify the information as it lacked access to the base. The reports come six months after junta troops were accused of looting and burning the WFP warehouse in Waisali village, Maungdaw. An aerial video released by the AA appeared to show junta soldiers removing sacks from the WFP warehouse and using them to barricade the district office, before burning down the warehouse. Sacks of World Food Program rice lie piled up at the BGF Battalion 5 base on December 13. Read more at: https://www.irrawaddy.com/
