A senior UN official has urged the Myanmar government to improve access for aid workers in conflict-torn Rakhine State. It is estimated that there are around 33,000 displaced people in the region. According to a Reuters article, Ursula Mueller, a UN assistant secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, said that she had been denied permission to visit areas affected by the conflict. The area is where the Arakan Army has been fighting the Myanmar army in recent months. “We need access – predictable, sustained access – to reach the people in need,” she told Reuters. “If the assistance, including mobile clinics, cannot get to the people, they just don’t have the services and their needs are not being met and some people are dying”. Mueller met with senior government officials in Nay Pyi Taw, including State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. They reportedly discussed some of the issues in Rakhine State, including the repatriation of refugees.
