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Myanmar forcing victims out of camps, says U.N.

YANGON: Myanmar’s government is forcing cyclone victims out of refugee camps and “dumping” them near their devastated villages with virtually no aid supplies, the U.N. said on Friday.

Eight camps set up earlier by the government for homeless victims in the Irrawaddy Delta town of Bogale were “totally empty” as the clearout continued, UNICEF official Teh Tai Ring told a meeting of aid groups. “The government is moving people unannounced,” he said, adding that authorities were “dumping people in the approximate location of the villages, basically with nothing.”

Camps were also being closed in Labutta, another town in the delta, a low-lying area that took the brunt of Cyclone Nargis nearly a month ago. Centralising stricken people in the centres had made it easier for aid agencies to deliver emergency relief since many villages in the delta could only be reached by boat or over very rough roads.

Aid workers who have reached some of the remote villages said little remains that could sustain the former residents. Houses are destroyed, livestock have perished and food has virtually run out. Medicines are nonexistent.

The official said some of the refugees were “being given rations and then they are forced to move.” — AP

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