With the Rar Maung Bridge — spanning the river of the same name in Arakan State’s Minbya Township — inaccessible to heavy vehicles for years, a boat accident this week is straining alternative river-crossing methods, and snarling trade and transport in the region. 

Some petrol stations in the Arakan State capital Sittwe reported facing fuel shortages on April 1, according to the Arakan State Petrol Association.

Locals want pilgrims to visit the historical Kyein Taung Pagoda in Minbya Township, Arakan State, without the site also being used to host Tatmadaw troops.

The Arakan State Administration Council is planning to rebuild nearly 150 houses in Kyauktaw Township’s Phayarpaung and Taungpauk villages that were destroyed by fire last year.

Two residents of Paletwa town, Chin State, were acquitted on April 1 after standing trial on terrorism charges for six months, family members said.

Wai Hun Aung, a writer who is also involved in social work, said 195 new houses are being built with donations to replace some of the hundreds of shelters that were destroyed in a fire at Tin Nyo camp for internally displaced people (IDPs). 

Civil society organisations in Arakan State are stepping up to help address chronic seasonal water shortages amid a sense that the state government has proved unable or unwilling to tackle the issue.  

An Arakan State-based civil society organisation has urged Arakanese people not to overindulge in Thingyan revelries amid the Myanmar military’s lethal crackdowns on anti-regime protesters across the country. 

The United Nations says more than 500 civilians, including several children, have been killed by security forces since the military seized power in Myanmar, with the world body calling for a strong international response to the bloodshed. 

The Shwe Yaung Metta Foundation, a Sittwe-based charity group, is facing difficulties to provide help transporting emergency patients due to fewer donors, executives of the foundation said.

World Vision has called on Myanmar security forces to cease violence against children, saying that through March 29, more than 40 of 510 civilian deaths documented amid crackdowns on anti-regime protesters were children. 

Many internally displaced people (IDPs) in Arakan State are not ready to return to their villages, according to Arakan Army spokesperson Khaing Thukha.

The earthenwares business in Myebon Township has begun to fade due to the substitution of plastic receptibles in households across the region and beyond, said the owner of an earthenware business in Myebon town for nearly 40 years.

IDP camps in Arakan State are in need of fire hazard prevention accessories, according to officials of the camps and people who provide assistance to the IDPs. 

A ruling in the case of four people — including the chairman of the Taungup Township Development Committee — charged with terrorism has been postponed, according to a lawyer representing the defendants. 

The Myanmar military’s brutal violence against peaceful anti-regime protesters is unacceptable, said Arakan Army (AA) spokesman Khaing Thukha. 

With no pipeline or pumping facilities to distribute water from reservoirs in Minbya, residents of the town say they are facing water scarcity year after year.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Myanmar has urged security forces “to take all possible measures to ensure that the use of force and firearms is strictly controlled,” following a weekend in which scores of people were reportedly killed by police and military personnel. 

New shelters are being built at the Tin Nyo camp for internally displaced people (IDPs) in Arakan State’s Mrauk-U Township after hundreds of shelters were destroyed in a fire on March 17, according to the camp manager.