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191. During 1970 Bangladesh received an influ: of about 200,000 persons from the Arakan State of Burma. The Government sought assistance from the international community and the Secretary-General designated the High Commissioner to act as co-ordinator of this assistance. In July of the same year, the Governments of Bangladesh and Burma reached an agreement providing for the voluntary repatriation of these persons.
By the end of March 1979 more than 109,000 had repatriated. Details of this operation and the assistance programmes provided by UNHCR in both countries are given under the respective country headings below.
192. Table 1 of annex II indicates that expenditures under UHCR Special Programmes in Asia exceeded $46.5 million, the major part of which was for care and maintenance, with a little more than $2.2 million for local settlement and about $5.4 million to defray the costs of resettlement in third countries. Expenditures under the General Programmes vere about $1.8 million, the bulk of which was spent in Malaysia and Thailand.
Bangladesh
B.
Main developments in various countries or areas
193. Between March and July 1978, approximately 200,000 persons from the Aralian State of Burma crossed the border into Bangladesh. Following a request for assistance by the Dangladesh Government in May, the Secretary-General designated the High Commissioner as the co-ordinator of this assistance. An appeal was launched with a target of $15,565,000, and a detailed programme for a period of eight months, until 31 December 1978, was established in close consultation with the Government of Bangladesh, UNICEF, UNDP, WFP and WHO as well as non-governmental organizations, in particular the League of Red Cross Societies, which was supporting the relief efforts of the Bangladesh Red Cross Society. By the end of 1973, contributions totalling $15.5 million had been received in response to the High Commissioner's appeal, of which about $7.3 million covered the cost of emergency food aid provided by TP. Additional contributions in cash and kind were also made on a bilateral basis by various governments and voluntary agencies.
194. As a result of the agreement concluded between the Governments of Bangladesh and Burma on 9 July 1978 and which provided for the repatriation of those wishing to return to Burma, over 36,000 persons had repatriated by the end of the year. The High Commissioner launched a further appeal on 31 January 1979 for an amount of
$5.5 million to finance the continuation of this programme.
195. Serious problems vere encountered in the fields of nutrition, sanitation and health, mainly due to overcrowding in the ten camps which were established. The intensive efforts which were made to remedy shortcomings included the provision of dry rations for all, a programme for vulnerable group feeding for about 85,000 beneficiaries (children, the aged, expectant and nursing mothers), and a special feeding programme that included medical treatment for about 6,000 beneficiaries. A team of nutritionists was also employed.