Traditional zat pwe artists and troupe owners in Arakan State, who have been preparing to return to the stage next month, now worry that a series of recent clashes between Myanmar’s military regime and the Arakan Army threaten to derail those plans.

Increasing numbers of young people in Mon State, both from rural and urban areas, are leaving military-ruled Myanmar to work abroad, according to local residents and overseas employment agencies.

Local residents of Aung Mingalar Village in northern Maungdaw Township, Arakan State, felt compelled to flee their homes after a large number of junta soldiers and border guard police searched their village on Friday afternoon. 

Myanmar’s military regime has barred local and international nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) from travelling to multiple townships in Arakan State following the renewed fighting between junta troops and the Arakan Army (AA) over recent weeks. 

Family members of seven detained men in Arakan State’s Taungup and Kyaukphyu townships say they are worried about the safety of the detainees as they have not been in contact with them since their arrests in recent weeks. 

Junta troops fired shots at a vehicle carrying the well-known social activist Ko Ann Thar Gyi in Arakan State’s Mrauk-U Township on Friday.

A police officer at Apaukwa Police Station in Arakan State’s Kyauktaw Township was reportedly arrested by the Arakan Army on Thursday. 

The Arakan Army (AA) attacked a support ship belonging to the Myanmar military with heavy weapons in Arakan State’s Taungup Township at around 2 p.m. on Friday, according to local people. 

Village administrators in Arakan State are concerned about their safety following the Myanmar’s regime’s detention of administrators from areas that have seen heightened military tensions between the military and Arakan Army (AA).

With the passport office in the Arakan State capital Sittwe packed with people desperate to leave Myanmar amid rising unemployment and costs of living, brokers are profiting from the country’s increasingly grim economic outlook.

The Arakan Army (AA) will impose checks on vehicles and vessels in Arakan State, said AA spokesman U Khaing Thukha, alleging that Myanmar’s military regime has been bringing in reinforcements by both public and private means of transport.

In an attempt to retake military camps lost to the Arakan Army (AA), the Myanmar military has launched attacks in Maungdaw Township, Arakan State, and Paletwa Township, Chin State, in recent days, according to U Khaing Thukha, spokesman for the ethnic armed group. 

More than 100 internally displaced people (IDPs) at the Myatanzaung displacement camp in Arakan State’s Mrauk-U Township are facing livelihood hardships, according to camp officials.

Myanmar’s military junta has detained at least 30 youth activists in Dawei, Tanintharyi Region, this month, according to the Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM).

Phone and mobile internet services have been cut off in Moebye, Shan State, amid intense fighting between junta troops and the Karenni Nationalities Defense Force (KNDF), according to a source from the KNDF. 

At least seven people were arrested by the Myanmar military in Kyaukphyu, Arakan State, in the second week of this month alone, according to locals. 

Risking arrest and prosecution with potential imprisonment of up to five years, Muslims in Arakan State continue to attempt to leave Arakan State to work elsewhere in the country or abroad. 

Village administrators in Arakan State are concerned about their safety following the Myanmar’s regime’s detention of administrators from areas that have seen heightened military tensions between the military and the Arakan Army (AA).

A fire outbreak at Pann Myaung Village, Minbya Township, on Sunday resulted in financial losses of K84 million and left dozens of people homeless, according to Rakhine Daily, an Arakan State-based and junta-linked media outlet. Local residents say the actual losses are much higher.