Desperation Spreads in Rohingya Camps as Food Stocks Dwindle

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Rohingya refugees packed into camps and makeshift settlements in Bangladesh are becoming desperate for scant basic resources and dwindling supplies.

Fights are erupting over food and water. Women and children are rubbing their bellies and begging for food.

U.N. agencies estimate that more than a quarter-million Rohingya Muslims have flooded into the region in just the last two weeks. Many were initially stunned and traumatized after fleeing violence that erupted Aug. 25 in Myanmar's Rakhine state. They are now growing desperate in searching for food distribution points that appeared only in recent days, passing out packets of biscuits and 25-kilogram (55-pound) bags of rice.

One aid worker who asked not to be identified says "stocks are running out" with the refugees' needs far greater than what they'd imagined.