Hundreds of residents who fled their homes for safer locations after the Myanmar military clashed with the Arakan Army in Rathedaung Township over the weekend are reportedly unable to return home. 

Clashes between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army (AA) have continued for three consecutive days in Arakan State and Chin State’s Paletwa Township, the AA said on Monday, as some of the latest fighting was reported east of the Kaladan River in Paletwa Township. 

Arakanese farmers say they are facing difficulties replanting paddy fields that have been hard-hit by drought in Arakan state. 

The Myanmar military has blockaded the Angumaw-Maungdaw road since the evening of August 13, said locals and drivers.

The domestic gold price reached a new record high of more than K2.75 million per tical for 24-K gold on Saturday, according to gold shop owners. 

Deforestation of mangroves has increased in Arakan State as a result of power cuts, according to local mangrove conservationists. 

Some 700 residents have reportedly fled their homes for safer locations as the Myanmar military and Arakan Army have been clashing in the Mayu Hills between Rathedaung Township’s Donpaik and Cheinkhali villages, with the hostilities beginning on Saturday morning. 

Six men from Khamaung Seik village in northern Maungdaw Township, Arakan State, have been missing since Friday, according to relatives. 

Four people were injured in a landmine blast on Saturday in Arakan State’s Ponnagyun Township, with one of the victims said to be in critical condition. 

A member of the Arakan Liberation Party (ALP) and a civilian were reportedly shot dead in Gyinchaung (Muslim) village, part of Hkwaynyaung village-tract in Maungdaw Township, at around 1:00 a.m. on Saturday. 

Thousands of people have been affected by flooding caused by heavy rains in Mon State’s Ye and Zin Kyaik townships, reported locals. 

Some charities in Dawei, Tanintharyi Region, have suspended operations after fuel prices soared to more than K2,000 per litre. 

The Arakan Army (AA) is carrying out landmine risk education among locals in parts of Arakan State, which is plagued by landmines after some two years of fighting between the military and AA from 2018-2020, according to U Khaing Thukha, spokesman for the ethnic armed group. 

The justice department of the United League of Arakan (ULA), the political wing of the Arakan Army (AA), has received approximately 800 complaints regarding land disputes, according to ULA/AA spokesperson U Khaing Thukha. 

The Arakan Army (AA) arrested Lieutenant Colonel Khaing Paw Lin, an executive committee member of the Arakan Liberation Party (ALP), not because he was a member of the ALP but because of crimes committed against the Arakanese people, according to AA spokesman U Khaing Thukha. 

Residents of Phayapaung, Taung Pauk and Ponnar villages in Arakan State’s Kyauktaw Township fled their homes after junta troops entered the villages on Tuesday morning, and though the soldiers have since left, more than 100 villagers remain unwilling to return to their homes, according to locals. 

The Arakan Army spokesman has warned of the potential for escalating hostilities with the Myanmar military if the junta continues to arrest civilians in Arakan State, saying dozens of civilians detained over recent weeks remain behind bars. 

Myanmar’s military has withdrawn from seven outposts in Arakan State’s Maungdaw Township amid heightened military tensions with the Arakan Army (AA), the ethnic armed group’s spokesman U Khaing Thukha said at a press conference on Thursday. 

There has been greater trust and unity of late among the diverse ethnic groups and races in Arakan State, Arakan Army (AA) spokesman U Khaing Thukha said during the Arakanese ethnic armed group’s monthly press conference on Thursday.