DHAKA: Tens of thousands of Rohingya refugee families received food assistance from the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre ahead of Eid Al-Fitr, Bangladeshi authorities said on Thursday.
A predominantly Muslim ethnic minority, the Rohingya have lived for centuries in Myanmar’s western Rakhine State but were stripped of their citizenship in the 1980s. Since then, many have fled to neighboring Bangladesh, with about 700,000 arriving in 2017 after a military crackdown in their native state.
Nearly 1.3 million Rohingya are currently cramped inside 33 camps in Bangladesh’s coastal Cox’s Bazar district, where they have limited access to job opportunities and education.
With international aid for the refugee community dropping since 2021, agencies have been facing difficulties in covering the costs of education, healthcare and food.
KSrelief assistance comes as the UN World Food Programme plans to cut food rations next month.
