EU commission to provide new humanitarian assistance to Myanmar

The European Commission will provide further humanitarian funding of 3 million Euro (4.07 million U.S. dollars) to assist victims of violence in Myanmar's western Rakhine State and northernmost Kachin State, according to the press release issued by EU's Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection Department (ECHO) on Saturday. The fresh funds of 4.07 million dollars will be used to provide food to those affected victims. To date, Saturday's announcement brings the total commission humanitarian funding for helping the people of Myanmar inside and outside the country in 2012-13 to 48.6 million Euro (65.9 million dollars), said Claus Sorensen, Director General of ECHO at a press conference here on the same day. Sorensen stated, "I am impressed about the political developments and the reform process underway. When consolidated this would make Myanmar a magnet for investment and ready to take off economically." Sorensen visited displaced communities in some affected areas of Rakhine State from Nov. 19-21 According to the UN, more than 140,000 people have now been displaced since June 2012 in Rakhine State, mostly the Muslim minorities, while some 115,000 displaced live in numerous camps in Kachin State, the release said. Since the beginning of the violence, ECHO has continuously deployed experts to both Rakhine and Kachin States to assess the humanitarian situation in the camps and communities, it added.