Arakan State News Summary (June 8-15,2021)

By DMG 16 Jun 2021

8 June

• Nine people returning from Bangladesh tested positive for COVID-19 in Sittwe, according to Dr. Soe Win Paing, assistant director of the Arakan State Department of Public Health.
• The recent formation of a Thandwe People’s Defense Force was met with local disapproval in Thandwe Township, where the militia described its origins as resulting from a joining of “political forces and comrades” opposed to Myanmar’s military regime.
• A Maungdaw furniture shop owner who was kidnapped along with his son last month was released, though his son has yet to be seen or heard from.
• One of 19 Muslims in Maungdaw Township who entered Arakan State illegally from Bangladesh was found to have been infected with coronavirus.
• U Hla Thein, information officer for the Arakan State Administration Council, told DMG that the council would provide one school uniform to each primary student sheltering at camps for internally displaced people (IDPs) in Arakan State.
• 8,000 doses of coronavirus vaccine produced by China’s Sinopharm Biotech were delivered to Arakan State, according to the state Department of Public Health. 

9 June

• The Arakanese Women’s Association-USA released a statement calling for the Arakan People’s Authority to take serious action against the perpetrators of recent rape cases in Buthidaung and Mrauk-U townships.
• Ten people including the younger brother and sister of Arakan Army (AA) chief Major-General Twan Mrat Naing, as well as the AA leader’s brother-in-law, were released, according to a lawyer involved in the case.
• Two children drowned in a quarry near Khamaungtaw village in Minbya Township. The victims were identified as Maung Moe Htet Kyaw, 4, and Maung Nar Tet Chay, 3, from Khamaung village. 

10 June

• Yay Kaut and Puyit villages, which were moved because they were located within a hydropower project area in Thandwe Township, have been largely re-established elsewhere but construction works have not yet finished due to financial difficulties.
• The Arakan Army welcomed the release of 10 people, including the brother of AA chief Major-General Twan Mrat Naing, with a spokesman telling DMG that the ethnic armed group would respond positively to their release. 

11 June

• A total of 37 people have been arrested in connection with the Arakan Army (AA) on suspicion of terrorism and are facing trial at the Sittwe District Court, according to their lawyers.
• A final witness in the case of former Arakan State Chief Minister U Nyi Pu testified before the court.
• The evening curfew from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. (under Section 144) was reportedly extended in Maungdaw Township.
• Five members of the Arakan Liberation Party (ALP) including an officer were arrested in Mizoram State, India.
• South Korea said it would donate US$1.3 million in humanitarian aid for Myanmar, including initiatives targeting Arakan State, through the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the World Food Programme (WFP).
• A second COVID-19 case was reported among 19 people who illegally entered Maungdaw Township from Bangladesh after they were tested for the virus, according to the Maungdaw District People’s Hospital.
• A mother from a village of Gwa Township, Arakan State, is demanding justice for her 13-year-old daughter, who was raped on June 11.    

12 June

• Hundreds of onion-laden trucks were reported stranded at the Kanyin Chaung economic zone in Maungdaw Township because there were not enough motorboats to transport their cargo to Bangladesh, where they are slated for export.
• Skidding vehicles and traffic congestion are frequent occurrences during the monsoon season along the Minbu-Ann road, which is mostly used for transporting goods overland from other parts of Myanmar to Arakan State.    

13 June

• The Arakan State Administration Council said vendors at the Myoma Market in Sittwe are being relocated to a new bazaar near the BXT Port from June 13.
• More than 100,000 saplings were planted in Ann and Mrauk-U townships in a campaign led by local youths. 

14 June

• More than 195,000 stimulant tablets worth K290 million were seized in Maungdaw Township.
• Residents of Aung Zeya village in Buthidaung Township have been uprooted for more than two years due to clashes between the Tatmadaw and the Arakan Army (AA) near the village in March 2019, according to locals.
• Activists opened mobile libraries in Sittwe, Ponnagyun, Kyauktaw, Rathedaung, Minbya, Ramree and Mrauk-U townships over the course of a week.
• The Kasapanadi boat service suspended all routes along the Arakan coast to Sittwe, Kyaukphyu, Taungup and Manaung.
• Local farmers say they have not been paid compensation for farmlands that were confiscated three years ago to make way for a dam project in Pyin Kaut village-tract, part of Manaung Township. 

15 June

• A Muslim man who was attempting to swim across the Naf River from Bangladesh to Myanmar was rescued by a trade boat.
• Ninety schoolteachers from Arakan State accused of failing to perform their duties from May 3-14 were suspended temporarily.
• Internally displaced people (IDPs) from some IDP camps in Kyauktaw, Buthidaung, Rathedaung, Myebon, Sittwe and Mrauk-U townships reportedly faced flooding due to incessant rains.
• The number of rape cases against children and women has increased in Arakan State, according to data from the Legal Clinic Myanmar (Arakan State).