International medical organization Médecins Sans Frontières announced earlier this week that it has resumed operations in Myanmar’s conflict-torn Rakhine state. This comes nine months after the government suspended the group’s operations, which officials alleged were biased in favor of Rakhine's Muslim Rohingya minority.
“We welcome the decision, of course,” Simon Tyler, deputy head of mission of the group in Myanmar, told Devex. “We will continue to speak with the authorities and the communities on the next steps and where we will be needed.”
The Nobel Peace Prize-winning group was asked to stop countrywide operations in February 2014 — a decision that was somehow softened a month later, when the government lifted the ban except in Rakhine. The state is considered the second-poorest region in Myanmar and home to a vast majority of the Muslim Rohingya minority.
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Lean Alfred Santos@DevexLeanAS
Lean Alfred Santos is a former Devex development reporter focusing on the development community in Asia-Pacific, including major players such as the Asian Development Bank and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. He previously covered Philippine and international business and economic news, sports and politics.
