Arakan State News Summary (September 1-7, 2021)

By DMG 07 Sep 2021

1 September

• Five people, including four teenagers, were arrested by police in Thandwe Township for allegedly stabbing a man to death.
• A Sittwe patient was among 15 people in Myanmar who were identified as having contracted the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus, the junta-controlled Ministry of Health said in a statement.
• A stay-at-home order was imposed in Gwa Township on August 25 in an attempt to control the spread of Covid-19, but the virus infection rate in the township had not dropped over the ensuing week.
• The Myittar Yeik orphanage in Myebon Township, a refuge for children who have lost their parents due to fighting in Arakan State, was reportedly in need of support. 

2 September 

• A village official was shot dead and two others were wounded in an attack by gunmen in the Pantawpyin Muslim village of Maungdaw Township.
• Cows from some villages in Manaung Township are suffering from a skin disease, according to cattle farmers.
• Family members and officials from the Arakan Students’ Union said that as the case of four Arakanese students who have been on trial for nearly a year continues to be delayed, their educations are unfairly at stake.
• Two people arrested on August 26 for violating a local stay-at-home order imposed in Gwa Township were sentenced to one month in prison each under Section 188 of the Penal Code. 

3 September 

• A rehabilitation committee called on the government to clear landmines and rebuild the houses of the residents of Tinma village, Kyauktaw Township, so that they can safely return home.
• Mamut Shawfi, a village administrator in Padin (Muslim) village, Maungdaw Township, was released nearly three weeks after being detained by a group of kidnappers, promising to pay a ransom for his release.
• The Charity Youths Organization and Maramargyi Youth Network, two local charitable groups, donated Covid-19 preventive equipment (PPE) and food supplies to 400 families in the Arakan State capital Sittwe who are facing livelihood hardships amid the pandemic.
• Herbal plant therapies and other traditional medicine practices may help to treat Covid-19, said the military regime’s health minister, Dr. Thet Khaing Win.
• The temperature in Thandwe was the lowest recorded in more than 70 years, according to the Department of Meteorology and Hydrology.
• A graffiti campaign was launched in Sittwe, with the colourful tagging calling for the immediate release of detained students and innocent civilians. 

4 September 

• The Nay Pu Khan camp for internally displaced people (IDPs) in Kyauktaw town is in need of food and clothes, according to residents of the government-built camp.
• Ferryboat services in Arakan State, most of which temporarily suspended operations in an effort to curb the spread of Covid-19, were reportedly to resume route-running next week.
• Khin Khin Gyi, director of the Health Awareness Division of the Public Health Department under the Ministry of Health, warned that the coronavirus’s Delta variant now present in Myanmar is highly contagious and more likely to result in family infections.
• Patrols are being conducted to protect wild elephants along the Arakan (Rakhine) Yoma Elephant Range, the only elephant sanctuary in Arakan State, in cooperation with residents of villages around the sanctuary, according to a local conservationist.
• Civil war has intensified in Myanmar since the military seized power, the three members of the Northern Alliance, which includes the Arakan Army (AA), said in a statement.   

5 September 

• The mother of a 13-year-old girl who was allegedly raped by her stepfather in Makyayngu village, Gwa Township, has been told not to take part in the case, but said she would continue to press the trial.
• Two passengers were found to be infected with Covid-19 after people heading to Yangon from the Arakan State capital Sittwe were tested on September 5.
• More than 10,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) in Arakan State returned home of their own volition in August, the Rakhine Ethnics Congress reported.
• An anti-narcotics squad conducted a body search of two pedestrians at Kyee Kan Pyin security checkpoint near Thayargon village, Maungdaw Township, and confiscated stimulant tablets worth more than K20 million in one of their bags.
• The Arakan State military council announced that 32 men and women had been arrested during a raid on a nightclub in Sittwe for violating Covid-19 rules.  

6 September 

• Random Covid-19 tests have been conducted to gauge the prevalence of coronavirus among people in Arakan State, according to the state’s Department of Public Health.
• The Arakan State military council said it has arranged to reopen the border trade centre in the state capital Sittwe.
• A son stabbed his father to death in Leikma (Kan Chae Pyin) village, part of the Kyar Nat Kan village-tract in Kyauktaw Township.
• A lamp was lit at the four-faced pagoda in Mrauk-U to commemorate the 591st anniversary of the founding of Mrauk-U, the royal capital of the ancient Arakan Kingdom.
• Roadside stalls in front of a bus stop at the entrance to Sittwe were demolished by the township development committee and police, with authorities claiming that they did not meet the city’s standards. 

7 September 

• Although the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases has declined in Arakan State over recent weeks, the disease remains a threat, cautioned Dr. Soe Win Paing of the state’s Department of Public Health, urging people to stay vigilant and live their lives in line with health guidance.
• The Myanmar military summoned some local Muslim administrators in Kyauktaw Township, telling them not to accept an offer of police and administrative training courses to be provided by the Arakan Army (AA), according to the ward and village administrators.
• A Covid-19 patient in Sittwe who was recently identified as having been infected with the highly contagious Delta variant was discharged from hospital after recovering. 
• Raft-fishing businesses in Arakan State, which have been hit hard by both the second and third waves of the Covid-19 pandemic, were reportedly expected to start operations at the end of September.
• The Arakan State Administration Council said the public would be allowed to lay wreaths to commemorate Sayadaw U Ottama Day, which falls on September 9, at his statue in accordance with the Covid-19 rules.
• The domestic price of gold rose to a record high of about K1.8 million per tical.
• An air passenger from Thandwe was found to be infected with the coronavirus during a pre-screening for Covid-19 in Sittwe.
• A pregnant woman succumbed to Covid-19 at a public hospital in Gwa Township, bringing to at least four the number of pregnant women who have died with Covid-19 in Arakan State.
• Five gunmen robbed the home of U Kyar Hla Aung, a traditional medicine practitioner in the Arakan State capital Sittwe, in the early hours of September 7.