The recent formation of a Thandwe People’s Defense Force (TPDF) has been met with local disapproval in Thandwe Township, Arakan State, where the group described its origins as resulting from a joining of “political forces and comrades” opposed to Myanmar’s military regime.

Last month’s Cyclone Yaas destroyed more than 1,000 of the 100,000 mangrove trees planted as part of self-reliant mangrove conservation efforts in Arakan State, according to the growers. 

A 9-year-old girl at Pi Pin Yin IDP camp in Mrauk-U Township, Arakan State, was raped last week, with the manager of the camp demanding that the rapist be made a harsh example of in order to deter similar criminality in future. 

Seven people including Ko Aung Hlaing Win, chairman of the Moe Pyinnyar Dana Philanthropic Association in Taungup, Arakan State, were reportedly arrested by the Tatmadaw on June 5 at the Phon Nyo security checkpoint on the Taungup-Thandwe road, according to family members.

With tens of thousands of paddy acres going uncultivated in recent years due to conflict, Arakan State consumers are facing higher rice prices at the same time that the state’s rice production has fallen, according to U Shwe Tun Aung, chair of the Arakan State Rice Federation. 

With growing recognition that higher-level skills must be built around the information age and technologies of the 21st century, civil society organisations and volunteer groups in Arakan State are providing training and courses to Arakanese youths on topics such as computer literacy, English-language, human and women’s rights, and federalism. 

Family members are hoping for the release of nine locals from Taungup Township arrested more than a year ago and charged for their alleged affiliation with the Arakan Army (AA). 

Four wild elephants drowned in a lake in Aung Zeya village, Maungdaw Township, Arakan State on June 4, according to a former village administrator. 

Four men were killed in a bomb blast at about 1 a.m. on June 4 in Sanpya ward, Ponnagyun town, Arakan State, according to the ward’s 100-household head. 

Cargo trucks have been temporarily relocated to a bus terminal under construction in the Arakan State capital Sittwe’s Shwepyithar ward, according to U Than Tun, a member of the Arakan State Administration Council.

A person allegedly involved in a kidnapping case in the town of Maungdaw, Arakan State, has been arrested, according to local authorities.

Parents and locals in Arakan State’s Taungup Township are keeping wary eyes on their children as they returned to school this week for the first time in nearly a year amid the fraught socio-political dynamics of post-coup Myanmar. 

A total of nine childrend have died from diarrhoea in Pauk Taw (Muslim) village in Minbya Township, Arakan State, and the number of people affected by the disease has exceeded 200.

Developers in Arakan State say they have faced difficulties due to the country’s faltering financial system and rising construction materials costs.

Three more men who returned from Bangladesh to Sittwe tested positive for COVID-19 on June 1, according to the Public Health Department in Arakan State. 

The Myanmar regime has since May 28 restricted access to the upper reaches of the Kaladan River, which hosts the main road linking Paletwa in Chin State to Kyauktaw Township in Arakan State, and is the land route leading to Samee and Matupi in Chin State, according to locals. 

The eight were arraigned at the Western District Court of Yangon Region on June 2, but Police Major Tint Shwe filed a motion to dismiss the case, according to defence lawyer U Aung Kyaw Sein. 

U Hla Thein, a spokesman and attorney-general for the Arakan State Administration Council, said 17 cases of children under the age of 18 arrested on suspicion of illicit ties to the Arakan Army (AA) were dropped in May. 

The Thandwe Township military council has ordered people in Thandwe to submit overnight guest lists, according to residents.