Hostilities between the Tatmadaw and the Arakan Army (AA) flared for two days straight in Minbya Township amid a surge of COVID-19 cases in conflict-torn Arakan State, according to locals. 

Two men from Theintan village in Sittwe Township, Arakan State, were detained by the Tatmadaw on October 1, family members of the arrestees said.  

Two residents of Padar village in Arakan State’s Taungup Township were arrested by security personnel on October 1, family members of the detainees said.

Healthcare services are said to be urgently needed for internally displaced people (IDPs) as the number of sick people is increasing at IDP camps in Arakan State, which has the second-highest coronavirus infection rate in Myanmar. 

The number of people internally displaced (IDPs) due to ongoing conflict between the Tatmadaw and the Arakan Army has increased by more than 36,000 over the past three months, according to the Rakhine Ethnics Congress (REC), which put the total IDP tally at 226,800. 

Residents of Paletwa Township, Chin State, say they are facing travel troubles due to blockades of land routes and waterways in the area amid conflict and COVID-19. 

The military has opened a case against the National Security Organization – Taungup Township (NSOT) after the group accused the Tatmadaw of destroying National League for Democracy (NLD) campaign signboards and blamed its troops for the deaths of four people.  

Fifty-two people from nine townships in Arakan and Chin states have faced legal action for protesting an internet ban in the region since June 2019, the activist group Athan said on October 1 as it rolled out a report analysing the state of free expression in Myanmar. 

A rice mill owner from Ponnagyun Township, Arakan State, who was arrested for allegedly storing rice for the Arakan Army, was charged under the Counter-Terrorism Law by a court in Sittwe on October 1, according to family members of the accused. 

Muslim students sheltering at a refugee camp in Bangladesh have donated K500,000 to internally displaced people (IDPs) in Arakan State. 

The Myanmar Press Council (MPC) issued a press release on September 29 saying it had asked the government for a third time to include members of the news media among those exempted from coronavirus stay-at-come orders issued by the Ministry of Health and Sports.  

Anxieties are running high among locals in Ann Township, Arakan State, after two unidentified corpses with their hands bound were found along area waterways in recent days. 

A resident of Kyaukgusu village in Kyauktaw Township who was arrested by security personnel over the weekend was transferred to Kyauktaw’s Myoma police station on September 29, according to family members of the detainee.

The Arakan Front Party (AFP) will not be taking part in a programme allowing political parties to use state-owned media to communicate their platforms and other election-related messaging, with party officials saying the AFP speech was subjected to censorship. 

Two men arrested by the Tatmadaw last week in Chin State have been charged under the Counter-Terrorism Law for alleged ties to the Arakan Army, according to the Paletwa Township police. 

The Tatmadaw has announced that it will extend its unilateral ceasefire by another month, through October 31, but the military is holding steadfastly to a caveat that exempts “areas where terrorist groups declared by the government take positions.” 

A motorbike driver from Arakan State’s Mrauk-U Township who died this week in Tatmadaw custody has been accused by that same military of snatching a soldier’s gun and fatally shooting himself. 

The Myanmar Journalist Network (MJN) on September 27 urged the government to lift coronavirus stay-at-home orders affecting news organisations at a time, the network contends, when an unrestrained fourth estate is more important than ever. 

Though trust is essential in ongoing peace talks, it is impossible to build trust so long as ethnic armed groups negotiate while holding on to notions of “armed struggle,” according to Major-General Zaw Min Tun of the Tatmadaw True News Information Team.