Arakan State News Summary (July 23-31, 2022)

By DMG 31 Jul 2022

23 July
• Medicine prices are rising in some cities including the commercial capital Yangon due to the kyat’s depreciation against the US dollar and other foreign currencies, and shortages of some commonly used medicines are being reported in the market, according to pharmacies.
• Maramagyi representatives from across Myanmar met over the weekend in Kyaukphyu Township to discuss writing a historical monograph on the culture and literature of the Maramagyi people, who are considered a tribe of the Arakanese ethnic group.
• The Arakan Army (AA) released the township administrator and his driver from its custody at a location between Yoengu and Kyaukseik villages in Ponnagyun Township, the ethnic armed group said in a statement.

24 July
• Internally displaced people (IDPs) at a camp in a Ponnagyun Township industrial zone say there has been a shortage of rice at the camp for almost two months.
• Three men in plainclothes abducted a police officer at a local bazaar in Sanae town, part of Kyaukphyu Township, according to eyewitnesses.
• A clash broke out between the Myanmar military and Arakan Army near Abaung Thar village in Chin State’s Paletwa Township, according to locals.
• The Interim Khumi Affairs Coordination Council (IKACC) issued an appeal to local residents living in Paletwa Township, Chin State, urging them not to cooperate with the military regime and its subordinate organisations.
• The Arakan State Education Department has been administering second Covid-19 shots to students in the 5-12 age group since July 2, and 174,214 students had received their second doses as of July 24.

25 July
• Despite rising military tensions in Arakan State, Myanmar’s military regime may not risk a return to full-scale war in the state, according to political observers.
• The Arakan Army (AA) joined a growing chorus of condemnation for the junta’s recent execution of four men including prominent 88 Generation student leader Ko Jimmy and former National League for Democracy (NLD) lawmaker Ko Phyo Zeya Thaw.
• Seven out of 15 residents of Kyaukphyu Township’s Sanae town who were arrested after men in plainclothes abducted a police officer at a local market on July 24 were released the following day, while the eight others were reportedly sent to Kyaukphyu town.
• Myanmar’s military regime had left its troops deployed at a Buddhist monastery in Rathedaung Township for more than a week as of July 25, according to locals and internally displaced people (IDPs).

26 July
• Some ethnic armed organisations (EAOs) will likely attend a second round of peace talks invited by Myanmar’s military junta, the regime spokesman said at a press conference in Naypyidaw.
• Farmers in northern Arakan State townships such as Ponnagyun, Kyauktaw, Mrauk-U, Minbya, Rathedaung, Buthidaung and Maungdaw are having trouble growing paddy due to a lack of rainfall this year.
• Junta spokesman Major General Zaw Min Tun called the Arakan Army (AA) attack on junta troops last week in Maungdaw Township a provocation.
• The Ministry of Health urged pregnant women and those with chronic diseases to get a full dose of the Covid-19 vaccine.

27 July
• The residents of northern Maungdaw Township are facing difficulties obtaining food supplies as the regime has imposed travel restrictions on international and local nongovernmental organisations working in Maungdaw and other Arakan State townships.
• Some cottage hospitals in Mrauk-U, Ramree and Rathedaung townships have been devoid of doctors for nearly two years, locals complained.
• The Arakan State Health Department is strictly enforcing Covid-19 rules and regulations at border trade camps in the state, according to officials from the department.
• Local residents in Rathedaung Township who fled their homes following the deployment of junta troops near their villages say they still dare not return to their homes.
• Arakan State workers’ awareness about labour law and labour rights is still weaker than that of most of mainland Myanmar, according to labour advocacy organisations.
• The Three Brotherhood Alliance — the Arakan Army, Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) — in a statement strongly condemned the recent executions of four political dissidents.
• Police arrested a woman from Thandwe and reportedly charged her under Section 50(j) of the Counter-Terrorism Law on suspicion of supporting the anti-regime People’s Defence Force (PDF) and the affiliated National Unity Government (NUG).

28 July
• Local and international nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) were allowed to once again supply relief aid to villages in northern Maungdaw Township, but Myanmar’s military regime imposed a limit on the amount of supplies permitted, according to the manager of one NGO who asked for anonymity.
• Palm oil prices have risen to more than twice the reference price set by the supervisory committee for import and distribution of edible oil under the junta’s Commerce Ministry, according to palm oil producers.
• The residents of some camps for internally displaced people (IDPs) in Arakan State are going hungry as they are not receiving food supplies from the Arakan State administration council, the Myanmar military regime’s governing body for Arakan, according to camp managers.
• Family members say they have not been in contact with three men in Arakan State’s Ponnagyun and Kyauktaw townships since their arrests by the Myanmar military more than a week ago.
• The acting president of the National Unity Government (NUG), Duwa Lashi La, accused the military junta of terrorising and threatening pro-democracy activists, whom he praised as standing for the truth and the Myanmar people.

29 July
• Seven out of eight residents of Kyaukphyu Township’s Sanae town and surrounding villages who were recently arrested by the Myanmar military have been released, but one man is currently being held at a military regiment in Kyaukphyu.
• The BXT Jetty, a popular recreation area in the Arakan State capital Sittwe, has been marred by rampant littering, residents and visitors have complained.
• A police lieutenant was shot dead by a police constable, according to local residents close to the police station.
• The Sittwe District Court sentenced two men from Sittwe and Rathedaung townships, who were charged under the Counter-Terrorism Law on suspicion of having ties to the Arakan Army to three years in prison, according to the defendants’ lawyer.

30 July
• More than 850,000 people have been displaced by armed conflicts in the 18 months since last year’s coup, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) in Myanmar.
• The military has filed an incitement lawsuit against eight residents in Arakan State’s Mrauk-U Township under Section 505(a) of the Penal Code at the Mrauk-U District Court, according to family members of the accused.
• There were 1,009 cases of dengue fever reported in Arakan State this year from January 1 to July 30, with Sittwe Township reporting the highest number of cases, according to a source from the state’s Department of Public Health (DPH).
• Rice prices have shot up in the Arakan State capital Sittwe recently, according to local rice sellers.The price of a 24-pyi sack of Paw Hsan Mwe, the most popular variety of rice among Sittwe residents, has increased by K3,000, from K45,000 in early July to K48,000, according to rice dealer Daw Khin Zin Zin Win in Sittwe.
• A self-reliant free school for primary students opened near the villages of Kyauktan and Lai Gwin in Rathedaung Township needs funds for school materials, and to pay teachers’ salaries.

31 July
• Family members have not been allowed to see two youths from Pauktawpyin village in Ponnagyun Township who were arrested by the Myanmar military more than a month ago.
• If the prices of medicines sold in pharmacies in Arakan State continue to rise, chronically ill patients who have been taking medicine for a long time may have difficulty continuing to take medicine.
• Some goldsmiths have stopped working as the local gold price hit a record high of K2.3 million per tical in the local market on July 31.
• U Hla Thein, spokesperson of the Arakan State military council, wrote on his Facebook page that arrangements are being made to accept Muslim refugees who fled to Bangladesh in 2016-17 by the end of September.