Arakan State News Summary (June 16-22, 2021)

By DMG 22 Jun 2021

16 June 

• With basic education schools open nationwide since June 1 following months shuttered due to the Covid-19 pandemic, 97% of students in Arakan State were reported to be attending classes, but many internally displaced (IDP) students are missing out.
• Six prisoners of war captured by the Arakan Army (AA) were handed over to military officers in Kyauk Kyat village, Mrauk-U Township.
• Eleven new Covid-19 patients were reported in Sittwe and Maungdaw; 10 from Sittwe and one from Maungdaw.
• Vendors from Sittwe’s Myoma Market were relocated to a new market near the BXT port project in the Arakan State capital.
• U Hla Thein, spokesperson for the Arakan State Administration Council, said that border trade procedures were in place to prevent the spread of Covid-19 in Arakan State.
• Internally displaced people (IDPs) in Arakan State could be required to move this rainy season if temporary tents that were built in previous years are not fortified in time, said managers of the camps.
• More than 200 children from Pauk Taw (Muslim) village in Minbya Township, Arakan State, recovered from diarrhoea following an outbreak there.
• There were 94 cases of dengue fever in Arakan State from January to June 15 of this year, according to the state’s Department of Public Health.
• Twenty-nine out of 461 families from Yay Kaut and Puyit villages in Thandwe Township who were relocated to make way for the  Thu Htay Chaung hydropower project are struggling to make ends meet as they have not received compensation. 

17 June 

• The All Arakanese Solidarity Committee is providing free education at the Shwe Zedi monastic education school in Sittwe, focusing on students from camps for IDPs who will sit the matriculation exam next year.
• A 49-year-old woman from Nga Pyaw Chaung village in Kyauktaw Township was injured when she stepped on a landmine while heading to the jungle to harvest bamboo shoots.
• Farmers in Arakan State and locals who depend on the forest for their livelihoods say they are concerned about the dangers of landmines, calling for more effective efforts to address the issue of landmines and other explosive remnants of war (ERWs).
• Fish and prawns from northern Arakan State are being sold at auction in Sittwe because they can no longer easily be sent to Yangon and other parts of Myanmar.
• The slopes of the historical Shwesandaw Pagoda in Thandwe collapsed due to heavy rains and are in urgent need of restoration.
• The Arakan Army (AA) handed over 17 prisoners of war to Lt. Col. Aung Zaw, commander of the Tatmadaw’s Light Infantry Battalion No. 210, in Thein Taung Pyin village, Buthidaung Township. 

18 June 

• Some 20 people were injured in a three-vehicle crash near Kin Taung and Pauk Pyin villages in Taungup Township.
• U Aye Than Maung, a resident of Lamu village-tract in Taungup Township, was abducted by two uniformed military personnel and two plainclothes policemen, according to family members of the detainee.
• Twenty-one cases brought under Myanmar’s Counter-Terrorism Law and involving allegedly illegal ties to the formerly terrorist-designated Arakan Army have been dropped since the ethnic armed group was de-listed, according to the Arakan State military council.
• The United League of Arakan (ULA) sent a message of condolence to the late Venerable Tikhindiya, who passed away at the Yadana Bodhi Monastery in Yangon’s Insein Township on June 14. 

19 June 

• Seven people including the chairman of a philanthropic organisation in Taungup were questioned following their arrest earlier this month, according to the Arakan State Administration Council.
• U Nyunt Soe Aung aka U Mae Kalaung, a 52-year-old resident of Ywargyi Mrauk Ward in Sittwe, was shot dead.
• Four Arakanese students behind bars for months while on trial for their anti-war activism were reportedly struggling to eat the substandard meals being provided to them at Sittwe Prison.
• U Aye Than Maung, a 41-year-old resident of Kyet Kaing village in Taungup Township who was abducted by security personnel and police officers, was released at around 5 p.m.
• Closed for more than a year due to the fighting in Arakan State, the Cedi Taung station hospital in Buthidaung Township reopened. 

20 June 

• Kone Bwe village in Kyaukphyu Township has been experiencing riverbank erosion for decades, according to locals.
• Two staff from the Maungdaw District General Administration Department tested positive for Covid-19.
• A weekly mobile library campaign is being held in several Arakan State townships to foster greater interest in literature among young people.
• Dr. Soe Win Paing, assistant director of the Arakan State Public Health Department, warned the public to be mindful of the continuing threat posed by the coronavirus.
• The Taungup-Kyaukphyu-Ramree-Manaung water routes, which were suspended due to weather conditions, were reopened. 

21 June 

• Some camps for internally displaced people (IDPs) are facing housing difficulties due to incessant rains in Arakan State, according to camp officials.
• Three traders selling timber were robbed near Pyonto village in Pauktaw Township, losing more than 1 tonne of timber, two mobile phones, K100,000, batteries and solar panels.
• The Arakan State Administration Council said only those who have been inoculated with the Covid-19 vaccine would be allowed to trade at border trade points in Arakan State.
• A woman with no travel history and five people from the border trade in Sittwe were reportedly infected with Covid-19.
• U Nyi Pu, a 45-year-old man from Sanae village, Ann Township, who is facing charges under Sections 50(j) and 52(a) of the Counter-Terrorism Law, was beaten and his health deteriorated in prison, but his family said he was not allowed to receive medical treatment. 

22 June 

• Officials from the Arakan State Administration Council said there is a plan to ensure that there is no shortage of food in camps for internally displaced people (IDPs) in Arakan State.
• Fertiliser prices, which used to be about K25,000 per bag, have reportedly risen to about K40,000, making farming difficult, according to Arakanese farmers.