Myanmar delays UN refugee chief's visit
Myanmar has postponed a planned visit by the UN refugee chief to Rakhine state following renewed fighting between security forces and insurgents, a spokesman said Monday.
UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi was due to visit last week but Myanmar authorities scrapped the trip to Rakhine, where hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims were driven out in a military crackdown that started in 2017.
Fighting has flared after 13 police officers were killed on January 4 in an attack by Rohingya militants on border posts near the frontier with Bangladesh.
"Based on assessment of Myanmar authorities of the security situation in Rakhine, the visit has been postponed," said UNHCR spokesman Andrej Mahecic.
Britain is expected to raise the issue at the UN Security Council later this week, according to diplomats. The decision to delay Grandi's trip and uncertainty surrounding a separate planned visit by the UN envoy Christine Schraner Burgener to Myanmar is fueling concerns that ...