Arakan State News Summary (December 1-7, 2022)

By DMG 07 Dec 2022

1 December

 The Myanmar military has maintained a blockade of the Agnumaw-Maungdaw road despite a ceasefire reached on November 26, said local business owners. The border trade through Maungdaw has declined by 95 percent since the Myanmar military blocked off trade routes on August 13, according to merchants.

 Two varieties of pepper — Moe Htaung and Kyauksein — were grown on a trial basis in Sittwe, Kyauktaw, Mrauk-U and Pauktaw townships, and a 75 percent success rate was recorded, according to growers.

 A Muslim man from Ywama Village, Maungdaw Township, was receiving medical treatment at Maungdaw District Hospital after being shot, according to family members.

 Family members are worried about the well-being of three people who were detained at security checkpoints in Kyauktaw and Maungdaw townships last month, as they have not been in contact with the trio for weeks.

 Arakan Army (AA) members are helping the locals to harvest the rice fields in the townships of Buthidaung, Rathedaung, Ponnagyun, Kyauktaw, Mrauk-U, and Minbya, where ripe paddy has not yet been harvested due to past months’ armed conflict.

2 December

 A Muslim man from Taungywa Village in Buthidaung Township was injured after stepping on a landmine, and was being treated at Maungdaw District Hospital.

 Myanmar’s military regime has not yet lifted its travel ban on local and international nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) in Arakan State despite the latest ceasefire reached between junta forces and the Arakan Army (AA).

 A married woman in her 40s from Ngapathone Village, Myebon Township, was reportedly raped and killed on November 28, local residents said on Friday.

 An unidentified man’s body was found dead in a stream near an embankment in Kyaukphyu’s Kanyintaw Ward.

3 December

 People with disabilities called for greater legal protections and economic opportunity on International Day of Persons with Disabilities, which falls annually on December 3.

 Two landmine casualties were reported over the span of two days in a pair of northern Arakan State townships as the remnants of war continued to affect civilian lives despite a recently reached ceasefire between the Myanmar military and Arakan Army (AA).

 Myanmar’s military regime reopened the Sittwe-Ponnagyun road, according to local residents, a week after the junta and Arakan Army (AA) reached an informal ceasefire bringing an end, for now, to months of renewed hostilities in the region.

 Local residents in Gwa Township criticised the Myanmar military for building a new helipad at the township football pitch despite the fact that there are already other helipads in the town.

 Myanmar’s military regime reopened the waterway linking Arakan State’s Kyauktaw and Chin State’s Paletwa, with some restrictions still in place, after a months-long blockade that raised prices and caused various other hardships for local residents.

4 December

 A ceremony to share merit for nine residents killed by the Myanmar military last month was held in Sin Inn Gyi Village, Ponnagyun Township.

 The Ponnagyun-Rathedaung and Minbya-Myebon roads remained blockaded nearly two weeks after a truce between the military and Arakan Army was reached.

 With Arakan State residents suffering through increasingly frequent and lengthy power outages in recent months, individual households and businesses are reportedly looking more and more to solar panels as an alternative, more reliable means of electricity supply.

5 December

 Thirteen Muslim corpses were found dumped by a roadside in Yangon’s Hlegu Township, according to local residents.

 Local people in parts of Myebon Township are experiencing hassles gaining access to public healthcare services as doctors have not yet come to serve at the Kyarinntaung cottage hospital some two years after it was opened.

 U Kyaw Hein, a 40-year-old IDP who has reportedly been charged under Section 17(1) of the Unlawful Associations Act, is in poor health and needs medical treatment, family members said.

 As ethnic Kaman people gathered Monday to celebrate Kaman National Day, some took the opportunity to warn against political exploitation of the predominantly Muslim group that resides primarily in Arakan State.

 A university student and a motorcycle taxi driver who were detained on November 1 at the Kyeinchaung security checkpoint in Maungdaw have been charged under Sections (1) and (2) of the Unlawful Associations Act, according to family members of the accused.

6 December

 Fruit trees are being planted to prevent food shortages for more than 1,000 monkeys living on Thaylar Giri Mawra Patta Mountain, a well-known pilgrimage site in Kyauktaw Township, according to residents.

 Some schools remain closed in parts of Arakan State despite an informal ceasefire recently reached between Myanmar’s military regime and the Arakan Army (AA), according to teachers and local residents.

 Arakan State has reported zero new Covid-19 cases since late September, according to the state’s health department.

7 December

 Residents of Jaithar village in Thandwe Township, whose homes were forcibly relocated by the Myanmar military, are reportedly facing job scarcity and other livelihood hardships.

 Seasonal flower growers in Arakan State are operating at a loss this year because of adverse weather patterns.

 Myanmar’s military regime is updating a list of internally displaced people (IDPs) who wish to return home in Mrauk-U Township.

 Japan’s Nippon Foundation has suspended supplying rice to internally displaced people (IDPs) in Buthidaung Township after it was found that IDP figures reported by the township General Administration Department did not match the numbers on the ground.