Famine warning in Rakhine State
Dear John
“Rakhine faces the imminent threat of acute famine.”
This is the stark warning from the United Nations.
We need to mobilise a global effort to prevent famine in Rakhine State. Will you help?
Rakhine State (also known as Arakan State) is in western Burma, bordering Bangladesh in the North. The largest ethnic group there are Rakhine, but many ethnic and religious minorities live there, including the Rohingya.
The Arakha Army, mostly made up of ethnic Rakhine people, has been fighting to free the state from military rule and has taken over large parts of the state, including the border with Bangladesh. The Burmese military have used every tactic they can to try to weaken resistance to their occupation of Rakhine State. They have launched indiscriminate airstrikes and artillery attacks, exploited ethnic and religious tensions to try to divide and rule, and placed strict restrictions on aid and trade, including seeds and fertiliser, into the areas where they have lost control.
The Burmese military want to starve people into submission.
By spring 2025 it is predicted the state will only produce 20% of the food it needs. This is on top of well over 600,000 people who have already fled their homes and jobs. Around 250,000 of those are Rohingya, many of whom have fled not just attacks by the Burmese military, but also attacks by the Arakha Army.
This situation is already a crisis, and Burma Campaign UK has been warning since the start of 2024 that it’s only going to get worse if action isn’t taken.
2 million people face starvation.
Will you sign our petition calling on UN Secretary General António Guterres to fly to Bangladesh and personally open negotiations for an aid corridor from Bangladesh into the areas of Rakhine State no longer under Burmese military control?
