Arakan State News Summary (August 16-23, 2021)

By DMG 24 Aug 2021

16 August

• Dr. Soe Win Paing, assistant director of the Arakan State Department of Public Health, urged the public not to be complacent about coronavirus-related regulations despite a drop in the infection rate and related death toll in the state.

• The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said it would resume food deliveries to internally displaced people (IDPs) in central and northern Arakan State.
• Some online money transfer service providers said they were anticipating challenges as banks were shuttered for the week at the instruction of the military government.
• Government personnel were reportedly inspecting pharmacies in some Arakan State townships.
• A boat carrying two men and seven women from Kanpur village, Ponnagyun Township collided with the Taw Phyar Chaung Bridge at around 6 p.m. while returning from foraging in the jungle, killing one woman and leaving three others missing.
• Police in Sittwe arrested three people suspected of selling marijuana and other drugs.

17 August

• Passenger buses and ferryboats plying routes between townships in Arakan State are allowed to operate in accordance with Covid-19 rules and regulations, Arakan State Minister for Road Transport Police Col. Thet Lwin told DMG.
• Civil society organisations in Mrauk-U Township arranged to supply basic food items such as rice, cooking oil and iodised salt to camps for internally displaced people (IDPs) in the township for up to six months.
• People with disabilities in Arakan State are facing difficulties with their livelihoods and medicines during the third wave of Covid-19, the Disabled People’s Association (DPA) in Arakan State said.
• The administrator of Padin (Muslim) village in Maungdaw Township, Arakan State, was abducted by unidentified armed men in the early hours of August 17.
• U Aung Thein Hsan, 35, from Oo Soon Taung village in Kyauktaw Township, was severely injured when he stepped on a landmine while tending his cattle.
• A local charity named “Thingaha Kanlet Rakkhita” donated 80 bags of rice to 150 Chin households living in Mon Chaung village in the upper reach of Lay Myo Creek, Minbya Township.
• The Myanmar navy seized a motorboat with about 14 tonnes of timber to be smuggled into Bangladesh near Mayu Island in western Arakan State.

18 August

• Despite the depletion of forest resources in Arakan State and the need for timely conservation efforts, illegal logging has been increasing during Myanmar’s current political unrest, said Dr. Maung Maung Kyi, chairman of the Rakhine Coastal Region Conservation Association (RCA).
• The bodies of two of the three women from Kanpur village, Ponnagyun Township, who went missing after a boat capsized on August 16 were found.
• The Gandaryi camp for internally displaced people (IDPs) in Buthidaung Township was reportedly locked down after a 21-year-old woman from the camp was found to be infected with Covid-19.
• Camps for internally displaced people (IDPs) in the Arakan State capital Sittwe are in need of basic foodstuffs, according to managers of the camps.
• The Rakhaing Women’s Union (RWU) has provided food to more than 300 families in Minbya Township, including three IDP camps in Ponnagyun Township, which are facing food and shelter shortages due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

19 August

• Local youth organisations in Mrauk-U District have provided basic food items to support families and members of the grassroots who are struggling to make ends meet during the Covid-19 pandemic.
• The United League of Arakan (ULA) announced that the stay-at-home period in Arakan State would be extended for another week.
• Farmers in Arakan State said they are facing difficulties as fertiliser prices have increased by as much as 50% this year.

20 August 

• Reopening of the border trade camps in Arakan State will depend on the status of the Covid-19 pandemic in neighbouring Bangladesh, according to the head of the Arakan State military council’s information team, U Hla Thein.
• More than 1,000 people in Myanmar have been killed by security forces since the military coup on February 1, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) said.
• The number of Covid-19 infections and deaths reportedly dropped in most Arakan State townships this week, with the exceptions of Gwa and Kyaukphyu townships.
• Dr. Soe Win Paing, assistant director of the state Department of Public Health, advised patients recovering from Covid-19 to rest up.
• Arakan State recipients of Covid-19 vaccines supplied by China during the pandemic’s ongoing third wave will receive their second jab starting later this month, according to Dr. Soe Win Paing, assistant director of the state’s Department of Public Health.
• Former Pyithu Hluttaw lawmaker for Myebon Township U Pe Than, who had remained a member of the Steering Committee for Policy Affairs of the Arakan National Party (ANP) even after the military voided the 2020 election results earlier this year, made it known that he had resigned from the party.
• An illegal fishing boat sailing from Yangon to Bangladesh was intercepted by the Myanmar navy, with its crew subsequently detained in Maungdaw Township.

21 August

• Some of Arakan State’s main crab exporters have suspended their businesses due to the pandemic’s ongoing third wave, while others are significantly scaling back operations to survive, according to crab traders.
• Many express passenger buses in Arakan State have pivoted to transporting goods instead of people as the ongoing third wave of Covid-19 keeps traveller demand low and adds onerous restrictions for bus line operators.
• As many as 50,000 displaced people from Arakanese and Muslim IDP camps in Arakan State will be vaccinated against Covid-19, a member of the Arakan State military council told DMG.
• A Myanmar army soldier from the 552nd Battalion was found dead and believed murdered near Tha Yet Kin Manu, a Muslim village in Buthidaung Township.
• Members of the Arakan National Party (ANP) Policy Steering Committee held an online meeting and allowed U Pe Than, a member of the party's policy steering committee, to resign.

22 August

• The state government will investigate and take action against media outlets that use the term “military council,” U Hla Thein, a spokesperson for the Arakan State military council, told DMG.
• Although Arakan State has seen less rain recently, floods may occur again if the Kaladan and Lemro rivers’ waters exceed critical levels, according to the Department of Meteorology and Hydrology (DMH).
• Japan donated an ambulance and some medical equipment to Sittwe General Hospital for emergency transport of Covid-19 patients.

23 August

• Construction and repairs have been completed on six of seven inter-village bridges in northern Maungdaw Township that were damaged by recent flooding.
• A mourning ceremony was held for two men who were killed during a night of fire and gunfire amid the Tatmadaw-Arakan Army conflict in Kyauktaw Township about one year ago.