By Joshua Carroll
YANGON, Myanmar
Myanmar's government said Wednesday it is deeply concerned about the "life-threatening" conditions faced by thousands of its migrants who are stranded at sea.
The statement in state media marks a shift in the government's rhetoric as a potential humanitarian disaster unfolds in the Andaman Sea and the Straits of Malacca.
An estimated 4,000 of Myanmar's Rohingya Muslims, as well as other migrants from Bangladesh, are stranded with little access to food or water after Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand declared they would not allow migrant boats to land on their shores.
On Wednesday, however, Malaysia and Indonesia agreed to soften their stances over the crisis and offer immediate temporary shelter to migrants - providing the international community takes responsibility for resettling them after one year.
“Myanmar stands ready to provide humanitarian assistance anyone” who has been stranded at sea, the statement on the front page of the Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper said.
It added: “Preventative measures on human smuggling and illegal migration are being implemented throughout the country.”
Also Wednesday the Myanmar government banned a conference of the nation’s Muslims because it said the meeting risked “destabilizing” Myanmar, the Irrawaddy news website reported Wednesday.
The Union Muslims Nationwide Conference was planned for May 23, but Ohn Maung, the group’s secretary, said the government had already denied them permission to hold the meeting late last year.
A rising wave of Buddhist nationalism has been blamed for outbreaks of mob violence that has largely targeted Myanmar’s Muslims.
The Rohingya, a largely stateless group living mainly in Rakhine state along the Bay of Bengal, have borne the brunt of the violence.
Large numbers live under apartheid-like conditions in squalid, disease-ridden camps, and the group has faced systematic discrimination for decades, including restrictions on giving birth, marrying and moving around the country.
The United Nations estimates that 120,000 have left the country by boat in the last three years, fleeing increasingly desperate conditions and the threat of arbitrary violence by local Rakhine Buddhists and security forces.
