The World Food Programme is distributing food to thousands of people in Bangladesh who have fled violence in Myanmar, the UN agency said Wednesday. A surge in violence in Myanmar's Rakhine state has seen an estimated 146,000 people stream across the border since August 25, including malnourished pregnant women, children and elderly people. "So far WFP has provided more than 28,800 new arrivals with a three-day supply of high-energy biscuits, while 28,000 people have received a hot meal of khichuri, a kind of rice and lentil dish," the agency said.
It said it had set up communal kitchens alongside other aid agencies including Action Contre la Faim (Action Against Hunger), the Red Crescent Society and the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.