Myanmar says 535,764 Rohingyas fled homes in Rakhine

Rakhine State government secretary Tin Maung Swe said over 500,000 people had fled from their homes after violent attacks erupted in Rakhine State. He was speaking at a press conference on the Rakhine State situation in Naypyitaw on Wednesday. “Currently 469,665 people live in Maungdaw district and 535,764 have fled their homes in the district,” Myanmar’s Mizzima.com quoted him as saying. This is the first time the Myanmar government has disclosed the number of people who fled their homes. The United Nations announced that the number of people who fled their homes in Myanmar was over 600,000, which is nearly 100,000 more than the figure released by Myanmar government. At the Myanmar-Bangladesh meeting held in Bangladesh on February 15-17, Bangladesh government gave the list of 1,673 households with total 8,032 people to the Myanmar government. Deputy Minister of Information, Aung Hla Tun, said at the press conference that the Myanmar government was verifying this list and it had informed Bangladesh that they had verified 374 people from the list and were ready to accept these refugees who would be repatriated.