The Myanmar government has granted permission for aid from the Food Flotilla Humanitarian Mission for Myanmar to enter Sittwe in Rakhine, said 1Malaysia Putera Club (KP1M) president Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim.

He said the flotilla of ships would dock at the port in Yangon to help load the food aid on lorries to be taken to Sittwe by road which will take two days.

“A representative of the Myanmar government will join us in Yangon. Then the flotilla will proceed to Sittwe via the waterway and is expected to arrive in Sittwe within three to four days.

“We will be in Sittwe for two days to distribute the aid to the Rohingya community there,” he told reporters after closing a safety course for the Flotilla mission to Myanmar, Petaling Jaya yesterday.

However, he said only 100 volunteers are allowed to get down to distribute the aid in Sittwe for two days.

According to Abdul Azeez, the flotilla will then proceed to Teknaf, Bangladesh, from Sittwe to provide humanitarian assistance to 150,000 Rohingya refugees there.

The mission has received approval from the government of Bangladesh for the flotilla to anchor in Teknaf.

The ‘Food Flotilla Mission For Myanmar’ is organised by KP1M, the Malaysian Consultative Council of Islamic Organisations (MAPIM) and Turkiye Diyanet Vakfi (TDV) and is expected to sail from Port Klang to Myanmar on Feb 3.

Deploying the vessel Nautical Aliya, the mission will take 226 activists and Asean and international volunteers as well as 1,500 tonnes of food and medicine to the affected communities in Myanmar’s western Rakhine state.

- Bernama