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

By DMG 08 May 2022

1 May

• The first National Day celebration of the ethnic Thet people in Arakan State was held in Magyigon village, Maungdaw Township.
• The United League of Arakan (ULA) issued a statement expressing its condolences on the death of Dr. Waqar Uddin, whom it said had worked for social harmony and peaceful coexistence between Arakan State’s Arakanese and Muslim communities.
• Ann and Taungup townships in Arakan State were elevated to “district” status, according to Myanmar’s junta-run newspapers.

2 May

• Commercial fishers engaged in purse seine fishing off the coast of Arakan State said they are facing losses due to exorbitant commodity and fuel prices.
• Shopkeepers at the new market near BXT Port in the Arakan State capital Sittwe called for repairs to be made to leaking roofs at the bazaar ahead of Myanmar’s monsoon season.
• Myanmar Railways acknowledged that has been operating the Pyidawtha-Yaychanpyin rail route in Sittwe Township at a loss in the month-plus since it resumed train services along the previously suspended stretch of tracks.
• Local villagers in Kyauktaw Township demanded that action be taken to repair a monastery in Tinma village that was damaged by strong winds on April 20.
• Minbya residents said they would not be allowed to worship at the Kyein Taung Pagoda Festival this year, as Myanmar military troops are stationed at the festival site.

3 May

• Myanmar’s military regime distributed propaganda leaflets against the parallel National Unity Government (NUG) to passers-by in Mrauk-U Township.
• The free expression advocacy group Athan called for the immediate release of 61 journalists in Myanmar who have been arrested since the military coup and remain detained as World Press Freedom Day was marked across the globe.
• The military regime added 46 districts to the administrative structure of the country, saying the move aims to further smooth the wheels of local administration and stimulate development. Few locals in Arakan State who spoke to DMG were convinced by the claim, however.
• Myanmar military soldiers forayed into villages in Ponnagyun Township and questioned residents, with a focus on household registration certificates, according to locals.
• The body of a woman who fell into a river after being struck by lightning in Ann Township was recovered, family members told DMG.
• Members of the Arakan Students’ Union visited Thekkebyin village in Sittwe Township to celebrate Eid al Fitr at the invitation of Muslim students.

4 May

• A group of locals who were recently evicted from land that the military claims ownership of in Ann Township reported having difficulties finding new shelter and feeding their families.
• The Myanmar military detained U Raw Bi from Bawdupha village, an assistant of U Raw Bi and U Tun Hla Sein from Kyet Kai Tan village in Sittwe Township, a day after other Muslims were also detained by the regime.

5 May

• Local Muslim residents joined Arakanese Buddhists to organise an annual pagoda festival for the first time since Arakan State’s 2012 inter-communal conflicts in the Kan Pe area of Minbya Township.
• The Arakan State Administration Council said it is planning to introduce a private garbage collection system in 10 wards of the Arakan State capital Sittwe.
• Myanmar’s military regime has arrested dozens of Arakanese people from coastal villages near Haigyi Island in Ayeyarwady Region’s Ngaputaw Township on suspicion of having ties to the Arakan Army (AA), residents told DMG.
• A verdict in the case of five men from Kyaukseik village, Ponnagyun Township, and nearby who were detained and charged on suspicion of having ties to the Arakan Army (AA) will be delivered at the trial’s next hearing on May 19, according to defence lawyer U Kyaw Nyun Maung.
• A labour centre set up by Legal Clinic (Myanmar) in the Arakan State capital Sittwe to provide legal assistance for workers has only received eight complaints since it was established in March, said lawyer Daw Mya Thuzar, who is in charge of the Arakan State operations.

6 May

• The case of six locals from Taungup Township who were arrested under the Counter-Terrorism Law on suspicion of having links to the Arakan Army (AA) has been pending for two years, but the case has not been heard yet, according to family members and lawyers.
• The sixth anniversary of Mro National Day was observed at a monastery in 3rd-Mile village, Maungdaw Township, with celebrants gathering to preserve the traditional culture of the ethnic group and unite Mro people living across Arakan State.
• The court is set to deliver its verdict in the case of two men from Thandwe Township who have been accused of ties to the anti-regime People’s Defence Force (PDF) at the next hearing, according to a lawyer involved.
• At least three dozen people displaced by fighting between the Myanmar military and Chin anti-regime resistance groups near Samee town in Chin State’s Paletwa Township were reportedly struggling to make ends meet.

7 May

• Many internally displaced people (IDPs) taking shelter at displacement camps across Arakan State were reported to be going hungry after the regime’s Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement stopped providing rice to the camps in February.
• Only five of the 10 ethnic armed group signatories to the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) were confirmed as attending the peace talks invited by the Myanmar military junta.
• The body of an unidentified man was found dead on the lawn near a nursing home on Strand Road in the Arakan State capital Sittwe.
• A large contingent of police and junta personnel both in uniform and plainclothes raided the old office of Narinjara, a media outlet based in the Arakan State capital Sittwe.
• An order was issued by local police to remove homes and shops built in the airport area and former departmental office space in Ann Township, according to locals. About 200 homes and shops built in the airport area and former office space for the General Administration Department, a police station and a public hospital are being demolished, locals said.