WASHINGTON, March 8 — The United States announced yesterday US$26 million (RM116.43) in new humanitarian aid for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh and elsewhere in that region of Asia.

Around one million members of the mostly Muslim Rohingya community live in squalid relief camps in Bangladesh, many after fleeing a 2017 military crackdown in neighbouring Myanmar. The onslaught caused one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.

"This new funding allows our humanitarian partners to continue providing life-saving assistance to affected communities on both sides of the Burma Bangladesh border,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said, using the old name for Myanmar.

He said the new money raises to US$2.1 billion the total of US aid provided to the Rohingya people since August 2017.

The United Nations said Tuesday it needs US$876 million to meet the humanitarian needs of the Rohingya in Bangladesh, after dwindling donations forced a cut to their food rations. — AFP