The Myawaddy trade zone, a key area for transborder commerce between Myanmar and Thailand in Kayin (Karen) State’s Myawaddy Township, was re-opened on Friday after being closed by Myanmar’s military regime the day prior. 

A United Nations official in Myanmar used the occasion of World Humanitarian Day, marked annually on August 19, to call for “an end to the unrelenting violence that is terrifying communities and making these brave humanitarian efforts necessary” in the country, which has seen hundreds of thousands of civilians displaced since the military’s February 2021 coup. 

More than 1,500 residents of six villages in Arakan State’s Rathedaung Township have fled to safer locations after the Myanmar military clashed with the Arakan Army (AA) recently. 

Junta security forces conducted searches for overnight guests in some apartments at the Shwe Pyi Tha low-cost housing in Sittwe’s Sat Yoe Kya ward at around 9 p.m. on Thursday, according to residents. 

Arakan State’s Kyaukphyu experienced record-setting rainfall on Wednesday, according to an official from the Department of Meteorology and Hydrology, amid reports of widespread flooding in the town. 

Ferryboat services plying water routes between Kyunsu and Myeik townships in Tanintharyi Region will likely suspend operations due to increases in the prices of fuel, according to ferryboat owners. 

Food prices have shot up in Chin State’s Paletwa more than two weeks after the military regime blocked waterways linking Paletwa and neighbouring Arakan State’s Kyauktaw, which Paletwa heavily relies upon for food supplies and other goods. 

Family members have not been allowed to see four men from northern Maungdaw Township, Arakan State, including a village administrator and a village in-charge, who were arrested by the Myanmar military about a month ago. 

The department of Inland Water Transport has instructed ferry services operating in Arakan State to suspend operations from August 18-20 due to forecasts predicting dangerous conditions brought on by a depression and cyclonic circulation off the coast of Arakan State. 

Many townships in the commercial capital Yangon were flooded by torrential rains that began just after midnight on Wednesday and lasted for hours. 

Some urban residential areas in Arakan State’s Kyaukphyu have reportedly been inundated with floodwaters, with residents being evacuated to safer locations due to continuous rains since midday on August 16. 

Burglaries were reported in Arakan State’s Kyauktaw and Maungdaw townships in the early hours of August 17, with the wife of one homeowner attacked in the incident. 

More than 350,000 people in Kayin (Karen) State have been displaced post-coup as a result of fighting between Myanmar’s military regime and resistance forces in areas controlled by the Karen National Union (KNU), according to a press statement from KNU Central. 

The Arakan National Council/Arakan Army (ANC/AA) and Arakan Liberation Party/Arakan Liberation Army (ALP/ALA) have rejected recent remarks from the United League of Arakan/Arakan Army (ULA/AA) spokesman, in which he asserted that there was no need for revolutionary armed forces in Arakan State other than the AA.

Local farmers in Magyitaw and Ahmaw villages on Taungup Township’s Pantin Island say they are unable to cultivate paddy on dozens of acres of farmland damaged by seawater. 

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine earlier this year could have the unintended side effect of delaying a decision on the bid to have the ancient Arakanese city of Mrauk-U designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, according to the Department of Archaeology and National Museum.  

Local people in Arakan State’s Maungdaw Township are concerned about possible food shortages as the Myanmar military has blocked off the main road linking the township with state capital Sittwe following fighting with the Arakan Army (AA) on Saturday. 

A 2-year-old toddler died and five other civilians were injured on Monday when regime troops fired artillery in response to resistance attacks on junta departments in Kawkareik Township, Kayin (Karen) State, according to locals. 

“If the ministers of the regime’s Arakan State government only indulge in their power and authority against the people, and continue to harm the people just to please the regime … we have previously warned that we would handle [them] accordingly, in accordance with the needs of the situation, our revolution, public security and the Way of Rakhita,” said U Khaing Thukha, spokesman for the Arakan Army, at an online press conference.