Manama: Saudi King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz has allocated $15 million (Dh55 million) for the Rohingya refugees fleeing Myanmar to escape a military crackdown.
“A specialised team from the centre will be heading to Bangladesh within the coming few hours to assess the condition of Rohingya refugees there and find out their urgent needs and provide them with relief assistance, humanitarian help and shelter,” Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz Al Rabiah, Counsellor at the Saudi Royal Court and General Supervisor of Riyadh-based King Salman Centre for Relief and Humanitarian Aid (KSRelief) said following the royal directives.
Al Rabiah made the statement to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) following a meeting with members of the National Council on US-Arab Relations and the Committee on cooperation between US Partnerships and GCC Countries at the US House of Representatives in Washington.
“The centre, upon directives from the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, has been actively engaged in several projects to provide relief and assistance to the Rohingya, including the distribution of food baskets to 116,424 people during Ramadan,” he said.
“The centre is also working on a project to assistant Rohingya refugees in Malaysia with assistance from the Saudi embassy in Kuala Lumpur.”
The military crackdown in Rakhine state, where army-led operations have driven Muslim Rohingya from their homes has been described as “ethnic cleansing.”
