Myanmar gives green signal to resume food aid to Rakhine, says UN

The agreement, whose details are still being worked out, came as UNICEF reported that Rohingya refugee children fleeing into Bangladesh were arriving "close to death" from malnutrition.

The WFP was previously distributing food rations to 110,000 people in northern Rakhine state - to both Buddhist and the minority Muslim Rohingya communities.

Rohingya insurgent attacks on police stations triggered an army crackdown, that the United Nations has called "ethnic cleansing", and UN humanitarian agencies have not been able to access northern Rakhine to deliver aid since then. WFP deliveries have continued to 140,000 people in central Rakhine.

"WFP has been given the green light to resume food assistance operations in northern part of Rakhine. We are working with the government to coordinate the details," WFP spokeswoman Bettina Luescher told journalists in Geneva.

She had no timeline or details on the proposed distribution of rations to northern Rakhine, and said it was still being discussed with the authorities in Myanmar.

GENEVA: Rohingya refugees fleeing violence in Myanmar have testified about a "consistent, methodical pattern" of killings, torture, rape and arson, United Nations human rights investigators said after a first mission to Bangladesh.