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

By DMG 24 Dec 2021

16 December 

• Danyawadi Stadium in Sittwe is being upgraded to a state-of-the-art facility at a cost of K1 billion and the project is about 80% completed, according to U Pyae Phyo Lin, managing director of Coral Akyab Group Company.
• The Arakan State High Court reduced by six months the prison terms of four students who were sentenced to a total of 2.5 years behind bars over an unlawful protest in October 2020.
• People in Gwa Township were urged to stay in their homes and not go out unnecessarily between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m.
• The author Min Di Par from Pan Maw village in Mrauk-U Township, who has been charged under Myanmar’s Counter-Terrorism Law, appeared again in court.
• Paddy prices were higher this year than last year, but farmers in Arakan State said that due to high agricultural costs, farmers’ profits were low. 

17 December

• Civil society organisations urged authorities to pay attention to a recent spate of Covid-19 infections in Arakan State.
• The Arakan Army (AA) said there was opposition from the military council to the judicial and administrative initiatives being implemented by the United League of Arakan (ULA) throughout Arakan State.
• With Myanmar’s political turmoil leading to a bearish construction sector across much of the country, migrant workers with building experience are finding employment at construction sites in the relative stability of Arakan State.
• Training in mushroom cultivation is being provided at IDP camps in the Arakan State capital Sittwe and other townships in the state in hopes that these displaced populations can eventually run their own mushroom-growing businesses.
• The chairman of the Taungup Township Youth Network, who was arrested this month and accused of having ties to the anti-regime People’s Defence Force (PDF), will appear in court for the first time on December 28, according to his family.
• In a statement, the United League of Arakan (ULA) — the Arakan Army’s political wing — said that some townships in Arakan State had experienced a “series of extraordinary events” this month that it warned could lead to sectarian conflict.
• Some ministers appointed by the junta arrived in Maungdaw by helicopter to make arrangements to accept Muslims who fled to Bangladesh in 2016-17.

18 December 

• A Border Guard Force (BGF) member was injured when a landmine exploded while he was patrolling near the Myanmar-Bangladesh border fence in northern Maungdaw Township.
• It has been four months since a complaint was filed to resolve a land dispute over an oxygen plant in Ward 6, Ramree Township.
• Junta-appointed Minister for Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement Dr. Thet Thet Khaing, together with fellow ministers including the regime-selected Arakan State chief minister, visited Tin Nyo IDP camp in Mrauk-U Township and urged the IDPs to return home.
• A final verdict in the case of several Lekka villagers in Mrauk-U Township facing Counter-Terrorism Law charges was postponed for the sixth time, with the ruling now expected December 30. 

19 December 

• Local products from various Arakan (Rakhine) State townships are being made known locally and abroad and the market is being expanded through free online advertising and direct contact between sellers and buyers, according to We Love Rakhine, a Facebook page.
• Covid-19 “Safe Service” certificates have been issued to 66 hotels and guesthouses across Arakan State, according to the state’s Directorate of Hotels and Tourism (DHT).
• There have been frequent power outages in many Arakan State townships since mid-November, rather than occasional power outages.
• Villagers in Hpa-Pyo village, Minbya Township, said the owners of 19 of 82 houses had not yet received funding to rebuild their homes. 

20 December 

• A state-owned vessel will begin plying a water route between Kyauktaw in Arakan State and Chin State’s Paletwa once a week, according to the Arakan State Administration Council, a subsidiary of Myanmar’s junta.
• The last prosecution witness in a case against Kyaikseik villagers in Ponnagyun Township, who have been charged under the Counter-Terrorism Law, appeared before the township court.
• A nursing home in the Arakan State capital Sittwe is in need of healthcare helping hands, according to officials from the elderly care facility.
• Vendors at the Sandawshin Pagoda Festival in Pauktaw Township said they suffered financial losses due to low attendance this year. 

21 December 

• Most flower farmers in Arakan State told DMG they are in need of technical assistance.
• The prosecution witnesses and five former Arakan State ministers including ousted Chief Minister U Nyi Pu, who have been charged under Myanmar’s Anti-Corruption Law, have already been questioned, according to lawyers involved in the case.
• Construction work on the Khami Kyein Chaung reservoir, located about 11 miles from Ponnagyun town, began in 2014-15, but it has yet to supply water despite the project breaking ground more than six years ago.
• Two bundles of paddy were reportedly set on fire in Kanda (Muslim) village, part of the Pho Khaung Chaung village-tract in Buthidaung Township.
• Pigs in Kala Chaung village, Ponnagyun Township, are dying daily, and as of December 21, more than 200 pigs had died. 

22 December 

• Four suspects were detained by the Arakan Army (AA) for their alleged involvement in an attack on cows belonging to a farmer in Mucha village, Mrauk-U Township, according to the owner of the cattle.
• Seventy-seven Muslims, including children, from Maungdaw Township who were reportedly heading to Yangon were arrested in Taungup Township.
• Deposed Arakan State Chief Minister U Nyi Pu and the state’s former minister for municipal affairs, U Min Aung, were hit with an additional charge under Section 130(a) of the Penal Code, according to their lawyer. 

23 December 

• Police in Maungdaw Township arrested four suspects in connection with the killing of a General Administration Department (GAD) employee, according to the Maungdaw District police force.
• Experts say authorities need to be wary of the growing presence of microplastics in seawater off the coast of Arakan State.
• Conservationists are calling for more resources committed to ranger patrols to protect elephants and other wildlife in the Rakhine Yoma Elephant Range in Gwa Township, Arakan State’s only wild elephant sanctuary.
• Two students from a primary school in Shwe Paho Village, Maungdaw Township, were killed in a car crash.