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

By DMG 15 Oct 2021

8 October 

• The Sittwe Township Court sentenced ousted former Arakan State Chief Minister U Nyi Pu to two years in prison with labour in a case brought against him under Section 505(b) of the Penal Code.
• Medical supplies were found dumped at the BXT port, a popular public recreation area in the Arakan State capital Sittwe.
• Arakan State Minister for Security and Border Affairs Colonel Kyaw Thura said arrangements would be made to help the residents of Tinma village return home this month, according to the abbot of the village monastery.
• A cache of explosive remnants of war (ERW) was discovered inside several boxes in Maungdaw town.
• The Arakan State military council said it would release 36 more people who were charged under the Counter-Terrorism Law in Arakan State when it receives permission from Myanmar’s Anti-Terrorism Central Committee.
• The United League of Arakan/Arakan Army (ULA/AA) said it would resolve a land dispute over an oxygen plant in No. 6 Ward, Ramree Township. 

9 October 

• The court case of twin brothers in Maei town, Taungup Township, who were arrested and charged under the Counter-Terrorism Law for alleged links to the Arakan Army (AA), has been delayed due to a lack of prosecution witnesses.
• Sixty-seven percent of all landmine casualties in Myanmar over the first eight months of 2021 were in Arakan and Shan states, according to a statement from United Nations OCHA Myanmar.
• The Arakan State military council is prioritising an industrial zone project to be developed in Ponnagyun Township, the spokesperson for the state’s regime government said at a news conference.
• Residents of more than 30 villages in Manaung Township are calling for authorities to assign a doctor at the Sar Chet cottage hospital, where there has been no physician for three years.
• The Arakan State Administration Council says it is ready to reopen public schools and border trade camps as the Covid-19 infection rate in the state has dropped below 5%.
• U Sein Chit, a social activist and one-time parliamentary hopeful in Thandwe town, was arrested at his home and charged under the Counter-Terrorism Law. 

10 October 

• Rebooting Myanmar’s moribund peace process was discussed during a meeting of political parties with Lt-Gen Yar Pyae, chairman of the National Solidarity and Peace Negotiation Committee (NSPNC), according to political party representatives who attended the meeting.
• Poultry breeders in Arakan State said they are facing losses because the price of animal feed is rising but eggs are not fetching a good price.
• There are people in Kyaukphyu town who are starting commercial farming of oysters. 

11 October 

• Bamboo from Arakan State has been exported to Bangladesh through the Maungdaw border trade centre annually, but cannot be exported in the 2020-21 financial year.
• The group Myanmar Press Freedom In-Depth released a statement calling for the release of 54 journalists who remain detained more than eight months after the military seized power on February 1.
• Locals in Arakan State say the Myanmar military still has troops stationed at historical pagodas in the state, according to U Khaing Thukha, spokesperson for the Arakan Army and United League of Arakan (AA/ULA), who added that their presence at the pagodas violates the Geneva Conventions.
• The case of eight Kapthapyay villagers in Kyaukphyu Township has been without trial for more than three months.
• Residents along the upper reaches of the Lay Myo River in Arakan State, who rely on that waterway for their livelihoods, are facing difficulties due to rising fuel prices that are largely blamed on economic disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
• The State Administration Council announced that the General Administration Department under the Ministry of the Union Government would be transferred back to the Ministry of Home Affairs. 

12 October 

• Appeals have been lodged with the Thandwe District Court in the cases of U Min Aung and Ko Thant Zin Phyo, who have been sentenced to imprisonment after being found guilty of participating in a February anti-dictatorship protest in Taungup town.
• Local farmers along the Lay Myo River in Arakan State say they can no longer buy fertiliser due to rising commodity prices and the volatile US dollar exchange rate.
• Former Arakan State Chief Minister U Nyi Pu should not have been given the maximum sentence by the Sittwe Township Court under Section 505(b) of the Penal Code, his family members said.
• Development work for nature-based tourism on Manaung Island is 90% complete, according to U Tun Hlaing, managing director of Manaung Public Company. 

13 October 

• Students who will sit matriculation exams but were educated outside the formal, government-run education system, so-called “external students,” are worried that they may not be included on the list of those to be vaccinated against Covid-19.
• A scheduled meeting between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) special envoy to Myanmar, Erywan Yusof, with several Myanmar political parties in Naypyidaw was cancelled, according to political parties that planned to attend.
• More than 50 species of birds, including both migratory and endemic varieties, are facing extinction in Myanmar, according to a conservation group.
• The ABC orphanage in Sittwe has seen an increase in the number of children arriving without a caregiver due to their fathers’ abandonment.
• Moe Moe Hnin Phyu, the younger sister of the Arakan Army chief; Ma May Mrat Mon from Arakan Association (Singapore); and Daw Ma Chay Tu from Marlar village in Kyauktaw Township, who were sued under various charges of the Counter-Terrorism Law on suspicion of having ties to the Arakan Army, were released but Daw Hla Tin Nu from Mrauk-U’s Lekka village and Daw Ma Than from Ponnagyun Township remained in military custody.
• Traditional weaving in Arakan State has seen a decline in the number of buyers due to the high cost of textiles.
• Ko Aik Tun Min, Ko Tun Min, Ko Tun Lin and Ko Aung Tun Soe, who were acquitted by the Paletwa Township Court in Chin State on October 12, were rearrested on October 13 by police.
• Ten of the 22 people on board were injured and three others were seriously injured when a bus carrying passengers returning to Arakan State from Thailand overturned between Myawaddy and Kawkareik in Kayin State. 

14 October 

• A final appeal in the case of more than 20 Lekka villagers in Mrauk-U Township, who were arrested on suspicion of having links with the Arakan Army (AA) and have been facing trial for more than two years, will be heard at their next court hearing, according to a lawyer involved.
• Action will be taken against those who are mining sand at Point Beach in the Arakan State capital Sittwe, according to U Kyaw Lwin, the Sittwe Township administrator.
• An anti-drug squad seized illegal narcotics worth over K150 million in Maungdaw Township.
• Quarry mining in Taungup Township has caused cracks at a nearby monastery and pagoda, the abbot of Thayet Taung Monastery told DMG.
• Since the roads are damaged in Kanyin Chaung economic zone, the Maungdaw border trade will be conducted at the previous site of the port of Entry (POE) trade centre.
• As forest coverage decreases in Arakan State, the socioeconomic impacts on local residents rise, according to the affected populations.
• Family members have called for an immediate trial in the case of three Ramree Township men arrested on suspicion of having links to the Arakan Army (AA) and facing charges under the Counter-Terrorism Law.
• Arakan State’s Forest Department says it will conduct random patrols at a Ramsar site that includes the watershed conservation areas of Nanthar Island and the mouth of the Mayyu River between Sittwe and Rathedaung townships, in an effort to prevent illegal hunting and other environmentally destructive encroachment.
• Thirteen Muslims from refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, were arrested in a field near a mangrove forest in Zintula village, Maungdaw Township, for crossing the border illegally. 

15 October 

• The Peace Process Steering Team (PPST), a leading peace process group of 10 signatories to the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA), said it had not achieved the expected result at the six anniversary of signing of the peace pact.
• Marking the sixth anniversary of the signing of the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA), Myanmar’s military regime announced that it was dropping charges against 114 people arrested on suspicion of having illegal ties to ethnic armed groups, including both NCA signatories and non-signatories.
• An ancient pagoda in San Ko Taung village, Buthidaung Township, was reportedly damaged during fighting between the Myanmar military and Arakan Army (AA) from 2018-2020, with local villagers and religious leaders saying the military is currently stationed at the pagoda, making repairs difficult.
• The military council released 37 prisoners from Kyaukphyu Prison and three from Thandwe Prison who were charged under the Counter-Terrorism Law in Arakan State.
• The Durga Puja Hindu Devotional Ceremony was held at Hindu temples in Sittwe from October 10-15.
• Internally displaced people (IDPs) say the K300,000 reportedly to be provided by the Arakan State Administration Council is not enough for each IDP family returning home.