MSF Blocked in Rakhine

The European aid organization says its workers cannot access those in need of medical care in the violence-hit western Burma state.

An aid group said Monday that staffers had been “threatened” and prevented from accessing parts of western Burma’s Rakhine state where tens of thousands of people are in need of urgent medical treatment following weeks of communal  violence.

The Paris-based Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF)—also known as Doctors Without Borders—said in a statement that team members had faced “ongoing animosity,” making it difficult to support members of both the Muslim Rohingya and Buddhist Rakhine communities reeling from the recent unrest.

“That we are prevented from acting and threatened for wanting to deliver medical aid to those in need is shocking and leaves tens of thousands without the medical care they urgently need,” said MSF Operations Manager Joe Belliveau.