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The Nautical Aliya, a
Malaysian ship transporting tons of food,
medicine and other aid destined for Rohingya
Muslims, arrives
in the port of Thilawa in Yangon, Myanmar, Feb. 9, 2017. AFP
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A Malaysian ship
transporting humanitarian aid destined for Rohingya refugees in southeastern
Bangladesh stopped off the region’s coast Monday before authorities cleared it
to sail on to Chittagong port and dock and empty its cargo there.
The Nautical Aliya
anchored off Cox’s Bazar district until Bangladeshi officials finally gave the
crew permission to sail onward to Chittagong, as well as to allow volunteer aid
workers who were on board to disembark at Bangladesh’s busiest port, government
sources told BenarNews.
Initially, local
authorities had denied clearance for the ship to dock at Chittagong, saying
there was too much traffic in the port to accommodate the vessel carrying 1,700
tons of food, medicine, clothes and blankets in relief supplies, according to a
source aboard the Aliya and news reports.
The supplies will
now be transported overland from Chittagong to refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar,
where at least 66,000 Rohingya have taken refuge after fleeing from a military
crackdown in recent months across the border in their home state of Rakhine in
Myanmar.
“Hopefully, the ship
will anchor at the Chittagong port tonight or early Tuesday. We will allow the
volunteers to distribute relief materials among the Rohingya living at the
camps in Cox’s Bazar,” Rear Adm. Khurshed Alam, Bangladesh’s foreign secretary
for maritime affairs, told BenarNews.
He said the
government had yet to determine how many people among 230 volunteers from
several countries would be allowed to get off the ship.
“We will meet them
and issue visas to those interested. All of them may not be interested in going
to refugee camps after a seven-hour journey from Chittagong,” he said.
After the supplies
are off-loaded from the ship, the authorities will hand them over to the
International Organization for Migration (IOM) and government officials from
affected districts in Cox’s Bazar for distribution among Rohingya refugees.
“The government of
Bangladesh has also promised all necessary assistance throughout the mission in
Cox Bazar and at the Rohingya refugee camps,” Azeez Abdul Rahim, a Malaysian
who was heading the humanitarian mission and was on the ship, told BenarNews on
Monday afternoon.
“We are also
grateful to Bangladesh Navy officer, Nizamul Haque, who boarded the Nautical
Aliya to welcome the Malaysian mission to Bangladesh,” he said via WhatsApp.
Coming
from Myanmar
The ship entered
Bangladeshi waters after sailing from a port serving Yangon, Myanmar, where
last week the vessel off-loaded 500 tons of relief supplies destined from
Rohingya in Rakhine. These included rice, instant noodles, potable water and
hygiene kits.
The ship arrived in
Yangon on Feb. 9 amid an anti-Rohingya protest near the dock staged by Buddhist
nationalists. Myanmar authorities had prohibited the vessel from docking in
Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine, and they also barred any of the 230 volunteers
from disembarking in Yangon.
The volunteers
include doctors from Turkey, Indonesia, China, the United States, France,
Thailand and the Palestinian territories. In Myanmar, 30 people were allowed to
disembark at Yangon port for a handover ceremony on Thursday.
“Yes, we have made
all necessary arrangements to welcome the ship in Chittagong,” an official with
Bangladesh’s Navy told BenarNews on condition of anonymity, because he was not
authorized to speak on this issue.