Dr. Khin Khin Gyi, director of the Public Health Awareness Division of the Department of Public Health under the Ministry of Health, recently spoke to Development Media Group (DMG) about the state of the pandemic’s ongoing third wave in Myanmar and the threat posed by the highly contagious Delta variant. 

The Central Bank of Myanmar has ordered that all banks in Myanmar suspend operations from August 16-22, the latest extension of a weeks-long public holiday period as part of the military regime’s efforts to curb the spread of Covid-19. The public holidays have been announced week after week beginning in mid-July, but this week marks the first in which private banks have been included in the order.

Locals are questioning whether a security checkpoint near the 540^th Infantry Battalion in Mrauk-U, which was set up during heavy fighting between the Tatmadaw and the Arakan Army in Arakan State, should be removed. Motorcyclists have to dismount at the checkpoint to undergo inspection, and locals complain that all car and van passengers have to register and provide the details of their destination, and when they will return. 

U Hla Thein, information officer for the Arakan State Administration Council, wrote on his Facebook on July 22 that a decision was made at a meeting of the Arakan State military council to distribute oxygen produced by an oxygen generator in Mrauk-U to public hospitals in accordance with the local government’s policy. Some people have since criticised the statement on Facebook, over whether the military council rightfully controls the oxygen production in Mrauk-U. 

The district currently has the highest number of Covid-19 cases and fatalities in Arakan State. 

A youth group in Sittwe pioneered the idea, opening a mobile library in the Arakan State capital last month. Since then, more bookmobiles have popped up in other Arakan State townships. With DMG being an unabashedly pro-reading organisation as well, we recently interviewed Ko Nyein Chan, a member of the Sittwe youth group, about their current activities and challenges to opening and sustaining mobile libraries.

Basic education schools in Paletwa Township, Chin State, have been temporarily closed since June 9 after a cluster of COVID-19 infections were reported there in recent days.  

The recent arrest of seven Taungup Township youths, reportedly over alleged ties to the Arakan Army, served to highlight the legal ambiguity that surrounds the ethnic armed group, and raised anew questions about whether there are legal consequences for affiliating with it. After the military regime removed the Arakan Army from its list of terrorist groups in March, it was hoped that the dozens of court cases accusing defendants of illegal AA links would be dismissed, but acquittals and dropped charges have occurred in a piecemeal fashion to date.  

The imposition of a nighttime curfew over recent days in some Arakan State townships has prompted questioning among locals, coming at a time when an informal ceasefire between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army has brought a peace to the region not seen in more than two years. DMG interviewed residents, civil society organisations and the Arakan State military council to glean their thoughts on the curfew orders, which have been applied selectively across Arakan State’s 17 townships.

DMG recently interviewed farmers and civil society organisations to find out the challenges they  are facing in Arakan State during the current monsoon paddy-growing season.

Fierce fighting between the Myanmar military and a People’s Defense Force has been ongoing in Kayah State since May 20. The fighting is taking place in cities and villages, forcing more than 50,000 locals to flee. Due to a lack of camps for internally displaced people (IDPs), civilians are fleeing to the mountains and border areas. Local civil society groups say the refugees are in dire need of shelter and food, as well as medical care because pregnant women are among those fleeing. DMG spoke to a local woman in Loikaw, Kayah State, about these problems.

With more than 100 days having passed since the military coup on February 1, DMG spoke to civil society and political leaders, activists and businesspeople about the toll that the new reality under Tatmadaw rule has taken on an Arakan State economy already badly bruised by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Residents of Tinma village in Kyauktaw Township, Arakan State, were displaced by fighting between the Tatmadaw and Arakan Army in March of last year. Hundreds of houses in the village were burnt to the ground after the villagers fled the hostilities. For more than a year, the village sat deserted. 

With COVID-19 infection rates and related fatalities on the rise in neighbouring India and Bangladesh, DMG interviewed Sittwe-based civil society organisations to discuss what can be done to mitigate the risk of the coronavirus case rise spilling across the border into Arakan State. The discussion comes against the backdrop of recently rebooted border trade in the region, which had been suspended for more than 10 months due to the pandemic.  

China International Trust and Investment Corporation (CITIC) won contracts for deep-sea port and special economic zone (SEZ) projects in 2015. According to the initial agreement signed with the U Thein Sein administration, CITIC took an 85% stake in the deep-sea port and a 51% stake in the SEZ. But amid political sensitivity surrounding Chinese investment in Myanmar and concerns over China’s reported “debt-trap diplomacy,” CITIC agreed to lower its ownership stake in the deep-sea port project from 85% to 70%.  

Dr. Naing Swe Oo, executive director at the Thayninga Institute for Strategic Studies, a think-tank formed by ex-military officers, says there is little chance of fresh clashes erupting between Myanmar’s military and the Arakan Army (AA) in Arakan State, responding to local media reports about increased troop presence in the state. Dr. Naing Swe Oo recently discussed increased Tatmadaw troop deployments in Arakan State with DMG.

Known as Kalar Chaung or Myolel Creek, a small stream contaminated by bitumen and plagued by silting passes through several downtown Sittwe wards, causing headaches for residents of the Arakan State capital. 

The previous government declared the Arakan Army (AA) to be a terrorist group and unlawful association on March 23, 2020. But with the military-run State Administration Council (SAC) announcing a rescission of the AA’s terrorist designation on Thursday, DMG interviewed a variety of local stakeholders to get a sense of what this development might mean for Arakan State and its people. 

As you know, I was arrested over a talk on the topic of the fall of the Arakan Kingdom. Those who arrested me and the author [Wai Hun Aung] at the time were irrational to have arrested us over a talk. They failed to notice that the event was allowed for years under the U Thein Sein government. So, those who imprisoned me will not be happy if I say that I thank Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing for releasing me.