Myanmar suspends Medecins Sans Frontieres work in Rakhine state

The Burmese government has suspended the operations of one of the biggest aid agencies working in violence-hit Rakhine state.

Speaking to the BBC, a presidential spokesman alleged that Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) was biased in favour of Rakhine's Muslim Rohingya minority.

MSF is one of the biggest providers of healthcare in Rakhine.

It provides emergency assistance to tens of thousands of Rohingya people displaced by recent violence.

It also administers extensive HIV and anti-malaria programmes.

Rakhine state - in the west of Myanmar, formerly known as Burma - has seen several outbreaks of violence targeting the Rohingya since June 2012.

Tens of thousands of Rohingya have fled their homes for temporary camps.

MSF is one of the few agencies that provides treatment for Rohingya who would otherwise be turned away from clinics and hospitals, the BBC's Jonah Fisher reports from Yangon.

The government says that MSF has prioritised the treatment of the Rohingya community over local Buddhists.

The final straw may well have been MSF's statement a month ago that they had treated people after an alleged massacre of Muslims by Buddhists near the border with Bangladesh, our correspondent says.

The Burmese government's own investigation found there had been no casualties, our correspondent adds.

The move comes days after another rights group said it had evidence of institutionalised local government discrimination against Rohingya.

Forty Rights said it had obtained leaked government documents setting out what amounted to "state policies of persecution" in Rakhine state.

The Rohingya people are considered stateless and are rejected by both Burma and neighbouring Bangladesh.

MSF was founded in Paris, France, in 1971.

The non-profit, self-governed organisation "delivers emergency aid to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, natural disasters and exclusion from healthcare", its website adds.