Arakan State News Summary (October 23-31, 2021)

By DMG 31 Oct 2021

23 October 

• The construction of pillars of the Mahamuni Pagoda Buddha Image in Kyauktaw Township has reportedly been delayed due to the rebuilding of ancient Arakanese statues.
• At least 110 political prisoners in Myanmar detained for opposing the military coup and who were freed earlier this month following a supposed amnesty were rearrested shortly after their release, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) said.
• The State Administration Council (SAC) ostensibly closed the cases of 61 people who were arrested for alleged affiliation with the Arakan Army (AA), but as of October 21 only 58 of them had been released, DMG reported.
• Domestic air travellers from Arakan State will be required to show documents indicating that they are free of Covid-19 beginning next week, according to Dr. Soe Win Paing, assistant director of the state’s Public Health Department.
• Ko Ye Naing Oo, a three-wheeled motorbike taxi driver from the town of Ngapali, was taken from his home by police. 

24 October 

• Three 15-year-old girls were reportedly arrested by the No. 1 Anti-Trafficking Police Force along with two motorcycle taxi drivers for allegedly illegally entering Maungdaw Township from a refugee camp in Bangladesh.
• At least 49 people were killed and 79 others were injured in landmine and ERW encounters during some two years of fighting between the military and Arakan Army in Arakan State and most of the victims were children, according to figures from the Rakhine Ethnics Congress.
• Officials said it is difficult to find land to relocate the Metta Yeik Orphanage in Kanhtauntgyi town, which is caring for orphans in IDP camps.
• Crab catching, one of Arakan State’s most lucrative businesses, is facing imminent inviability due to the lack of an international export market. 

25 October 

• The Sittwe border trade centre reportedly exported about 300 tonnes of goods a day to Bangladesh over recent days, reviving its once bustling trans-borner commerce arrangement even as pandemic fears persist. 
• Families of the Myanmar military and supporters of the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) jointly organised a rally in the town of Ngapali to show their support for the Tatmadaw.
• A lawsuit was filed against Ko Ye Naing Oo, a social affairs activist in Thandwe Township, under Sections 50(a) and 52(a) of the Counter-Terrorism Law.
• Travel from Sittwe to Yangon and from Sittwe to Mandalay has seen an increase in air passengers due to rising bus fares.
• The vaccination of students over 12 years old in Arakan State was about 71% complete as of October 25, according to the Arakan State Administration Council. 

26 October 

• Myanmar’s military regime has pledged to provide Covid-19 vaccines to the United League of Arakan/Arakan Army (ULA/AA), but there have been delays in delivering the vaccine.
• Educators expressed concern about the prospect of fitting a full year’s curriculum into about four months of schooling as Myanmar readied to send its students back to the classroom after a months-long hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic.
• Paddy yields in Arakan State will likely be lower this year because farmers have had to scale back their use of fertiliser as its price has soared alongside significant depreciation of the Myanmar kyat, according to the Arakan Farmers’ Union.
• The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) said only 4,065 political prisoners in Myanmar had been released as of October 25, despite the junta’s pledge earlier this month to release 5,636 people detained during anti-coup protests nationwide since its February putsch.
• Families of the Tatmadaw in Kyaukphyu and Taungup townships held a rally to show solidarity with the Myanmar military. 

27 October 

• Local residents say embankments must be built along the shores of the Laymyo River near Letma village in Minbya Township, where annual landslides destroy homes, farmland and livelihoods.
• Arakan State’s preeminent beach destination, Ngapali in Thandwe Township, saw a marked uptick in visitors this month after a quiet September blamed on the Covid-19 pandemic and a tourism industry that, much like the rest of Myanmar’s economy, has reeled since the February 1 coup.
• Despite the price of gold falling from record highs this week, the number of buyers remains low, according to industry insiders.
• Former residents of Tinma village in Kyauktaw Township had hoped to go back to the village this week to make preparations for their permanent return, but have had to put those plans on hold as township authorities withheld permission for them to do so.
• A committee was formed to assess the future reopening of Nandawun Park in Sittwe Township, a spokesperson for the Arakan State regime council told DMG.
• The junta-appointed Union Election Commission (UEC) has ordered the prosecution of voters who allegedly cast ballots more than once in Myanmar’s general election on November 8, 2020. 

28 October 

• The Buddhist and Cultural Museum in Sittwe, which had been closed for more than a year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, reopened.
• The Covid-19 pandemic has reduced passport applications at the passport issuance branch office in the Arakan State capital Sittwe by about half so far this year.
• The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has suspended the delivery of food aid to internally displaced people (IDPs) in Arakan State due to a lack of travel permission from the Arakan State Administration Council, according to the UN agency.
• Zat pwe troupes in Arakan State, which had suspended their performances and other entertainment offerings due to some two years of fighting between the Tatmadaw and Arakan Army, are beginning to return to the state’s cultural milieu, according to troupe owners.
• The number of patients visiting clinics in the Arakan State capital Sittwe has risen this month, with healthcare personnel citing the seasonal flu as Covid-19 infections in the state continue to decline.
• Schools that have been closed since July 9 due to the Covid-19 pandemic will reopen on November 1, Myanmar’s military regime announced.
• There have been only 12 cases of motorbike theft filed at police stations in Arakan State this year despite anecdotal evidence of frequent motorbike thefts statewide, according to the Myanmar Police Force in the state. 

29 October 

• Family members are worried about the health condition of U Than Naing, a resident of Sar Pyin village in Taungup Township, who has been facing trial on Counter-Terrorism Law charges for more than a year. 
• Some villages no more than 10 miles from the Arakan State capital Sittwe have experienced delays gaining access to the electricity supply, villagers said.
• A young writer from Pan Maw village in Mrauk-U Township, who has been charged under the Counter-Terrorism Law, appeared before the Mrauk-U Township Court for a second time.
• Residents are urging local authorities to intervene to halt the construction of a filling station and oil storage tank in a residential part of Taungup. 

30 October 

• Women’s civil society organisations called for effective action against rapists, and dozens of female protesters in one Arakan State town took to the streets demanding the closure of local pubs, saying excessive drinking among the men there was contributing to crimes including violence against women.
• The Myanmar military conducted security checks on locals in three villages in Pauktaw Township on October 28 and 30.
• A total of 98 major criminal cases were reported in Arakan State through the first nine months of 2021, figures from the state’s Myanmar Police Force (MPF) showed, on pace for a significant reduction compared with last year’s 180 cases.
• The Arakan State-based Arakan Front Party (AFP) said it would attend a meeting being organised by the junta-appointed Union Election Commission (UEC) to discuss electoral system reform, including a potential switch to proportional representation (PR). 
• Internally displaced people (IDPs) in Paletwa, Chin State, report that efforts are underway to get them to go back home, sometimes through subsidies in what they say amounts to return arrangements that are semi-voluntary at best.
• Women marched in the area of San Tin Maw Ward No. 1, Laytaung Town, Ramree Township, to protest the closure of bars at around 3 pm on October 30.
• The Central Department of Education has instructed distance learning students to enroll at Sittwe University from November 1. 

31 October 

• Arrangements are being made to drop the cases of 36 people charged under the Counter-Terrorism Law in Arakan State, according to U Hla Thein, information officer and attorney-general for state’s military council.
• Arakanese youths have been collecting donations along Strand Road in Sittwe since the evening of October 31 for the victims of the fire in Thantlang, whose houses were set on fire on October 29.