Rohingya aid ship reaches Andaman Sea

The Yangon-bound Rohingya aid ship Nautical Aliya on Tuesday reached Andaman Sea and a Myanmar navy vessel started escorting the ship to the port, according to Malaysian newspaper the Star online.
Malaysian foreign ministry on Tuesday requested the Bangladesh government to provide access the ship, with aid meant for Rohingyas in both Myanmar and Bangladesh, to Bangladesh maritime territory and visa on arrival for the volunteers and crew of the vessel.
The government assessed the request and preparations in this regard in a meeting at the foreign ministry on Tuesday, ministry officials said
‘We will make final decisions depending on situation once the ship really proceeds to Bangladesh waters,’ a senior official told New Age, adding that the river port on the Naf River at Teknaf ‘is not suitable to berth an ocean going ship’.
The government might consider alternative arrangements to support the relief carrying ship, crews and the volunteers, he said.
Nautical Aliya was about 190km west of Ma Htay Aw island in Myanmar. The vessel is carrying 202 passengers and crew, as well as 2,300 tonnes of aid to be delivered to Rohingyas in both Bangladesh and Myanmar. UN adviser on prevention of genocide on Monday called to immediately put off systematic persecution against Rohingya community in Rakhine state.
‘If people are being persecuted based on their identity and killed, tortured, raped and forcibly transferred in a widespread or systematic manner, this could amount to crimes against humanity, and in fact be the precursor of other egregious international crimes,’ UN special adviser on the prevention of genocide Adama Dieng said in a statement on Monday.
More than 400,000 Myanmar nationals, including the newly arrived 69,000, who entered Bangladesh to flee persecution and communal violence in the Rakhine State of Myanmar, have been living mainly in two registered camps and makeshift settlements in tourist district Cox’s Bazar.
Source: New Age