World Bank urges more support for Rohingya refugees

The World Bank is urging more support be given to Bangladesh as the country copes with a growing refugee crisis after the exodus of Rohingya Muslims from neighbouring Myanmar.

The appeal was made Saturday by the bank's vice president for South Asia, Annette Dixon, after she visited makeshift camps in the district of Cox's Bazar, where hundreds of thousands of refugees have been living in squalid settlements since their arrival.

"The scale of the influx is enormous ... It is creating huge pressure on the infrastructure and services as well as on the water resources and the environment," she said in a statement.

The bank official believes the initial support extended to the refugees and the host communities to save thousands of life was commendable.

"But the needs are much greater," she said, adding that the challenges with disease and natural disaster would increase when the monsoon season approaches in three months.

Dixon said the bank would mobilize more resources, if Bangladesh seeks assistance, to address the needs of both the host communities and refugees.

More than 655,000 Rohingya Muslims crossed into Bangladesh to flee violence in Myanmar's restive Rakhine state amid the military crackdown that began in response to attacks on security posts by insurgents on August 25.

Earlier this week, Myanmar signed an agreement with Bangladesh to repatriate nearly 750,000 refugees driven away from their homes by Myanmar military and Buddhists mobs since October 2016.