UN wants trade, aid corridor to Myanmar from Bangladesh

UN Secretary General António Guterres is to seek interim government's green signal for opening of aid and trade routes into Cox's Bazar and Myanmar's Rakhine State.

As per research by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)'s publication, titled "Rakhine: A Famine in the Making, October 2024", it warned of impending famine in Rakhine State by spring 2025 as the state will only produce 20 per cent of the food it needs. 

After the publication, Burma Campaign UK has launched a petition to UN Secretary General António Guterres calling on him to travel to Bangladesh to open negotiations for aid and trade corridors into Rakhine State.
 
"The UN secretary general will have a meeting with the interim government's chief adviser Muhammad Yunus on Friday night and discuss the Rohingya issues in detail," a senior official of the Foreign Ministry has said without any elaboration.

But he said that Rohingya issue will dominate the talks.

"The Burmese military-imposed trade embargo is creating mass unemployment, and blocking essentials like medicine and agricultural supplies," a senior official of UN office has said.

"Two million people face starvation, but with political will this is preventable," said Mark Farmaner, Director of Burma Campaign UK. 

Knowing this entire move by the UN, foreign affairs experts became puzzled, they said it will invite the second round of Rohingya influx in Bangladesh as it will open the chance to cross the border to get relief goods from Bangladesh.

"Under that situation, the government  will have to keep mum about the matter as it's a humanitarian issue…it's a very tricky situation, government should think over the matter and discuss it with the stakeholders," a former ambassador and expert on Myanmar issue told preferring anonymity.

He said all things are going to be on the table, which are based on "assumption."

The publication based on data collected by UNDP across Rakhine in 2023 and 2024, which includes direct data collection, interviews with key stakeholders (e.g., private sector, associations), surveys by civil society organizations, as well as other data regularly provided by the UN system, Rakhine's economy has stopped functioning, with critical sectors such as trade, agriculture, and construction nearly at a standstill.

"Rakhine could face acute famine imminently. Predictions indicate that domestic food production will only cover 20 per cent of its needs by March-April 2025. Internal rice production is plummeting due to a lack of seeds, fertilizers, severe weather conditions, a steep rise in the number of internally displaced people (IDPs) who can no longer engage in cultivation, and escalating conflict. This, along with the near-total cessation of internal and external trade, will leave over 2 million people at risk of starvation," it reads.

Trying to negotiate with the Burmese military to allow greater humanitarian access and lift trade restrictions into the areas of Rakhine State now administered by the Arakan Army will not succeed in alleviating this crisis.

Instead, a humanitarian corridor from Bangladesh needs to be opened. This should already have happened months ago in response to the growing number of internally displaced people, it said.

The Burmese military is already placing some of the most severe restrictions and conditions on humanitarian aid seen anywhere in the world. These restrictions violate international law. The Burmese military will attempt to leverage the maximum advantage from the process of negotiations, forcing UN and other agencies to submit to extreme conditionality for the sake of limited access.

Instead, a humanitarian corridor from Bangladesh needs to be opened. This should already have happened months ago in response to the growing number of internally displaced people, it suggested.

It recommended the following immediate steps should be taken to avert the apprehended famine:
(i) Goods must be allowed to enter Rakhine. All restrictions currently in place within Myanmar should be lifted, and all parties should ensure commercial goods can enter and exit Rakhine. Furthermore, opening the Bangladesh border for business-to-business channels directly with Rakhine would provide immediate supplies to local markets. The same applies to the Indian border, which is an unpredictable channel for items like rice seeds and fuel that support economic activities in central Rakhine.

(ii) Aid to meet urgent critical needs and restore at least basic livelihoods must be provided without interference by any party to the conflict.

(iii) Unimpeded access and safety for aid workers must be ensured by all parties.

(iv) Sufficient financial resources to support agriculture sector recovery needs must be urgently made available to scale up assistance, over and above immediate life-saving needs.