More than 1,650 villages in Arakan State remain without 24-hour electricity as the current government’s term nears its close, according to the state’s Electric Power Engineer Office.

A National League for Democracy (NLD) letter inviting the cooperation of ethnic people has not arrived to certain ethnic political parties, with delays due to COVID-19, according to NLD spokesperson Dr. Myo Nyunt. 

Arakanese people, who have recently returned to their homes from displacement camps following a de-escalation of fighting in the region, say they hope present conditions are not just a lull before another round of renewed clashes. 

A resident of Padar village in Arakan State’s Taungup Township was taken by a group of masked men armed with sticks and machetes while he was returning from Taungup town after withdrawing cash from a bank, according to family members and a village administrator.

More than 2,000 tonnes of illegal timber were seized in Arakan State from October to November 23, the State Forest Department said. 

An orphanage named “Metta Yeik” is being built in Myebon Township’s Kanhtaunggyi town to look after children orphaned by fighting between the Tatmadaw and the Arakan Army (AA), according to the shelter’s construction committee.

The Arakan State election subcommission is ready to hold elections in townships in Arakan State where elections were cancelled if the Union Election Commission (UEC) decides to hold the election, said U Thurein Htut, secretary of the local election body.  

Residents of Darlet village-tract in Arakan State’s Ann Township have called for the reopening of roads and waterways that have been closed for one year, also asking that the transport of commodities be fully allowed.

The National League for Democracy (NLD) government is likely to resume full mobile internet services in northern Arakan State if security improves in the area, the ruling party’s spokesman Dr. Myo Nyunt told DMG. 

Thirteen children died and 56 were severely injured in Myanmar due to landmines and other remnants of war (UXO) in the nine months from January to September 2020, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). 

Myanmar’s Fisheries Department will adjust its annual three-month inshore fishing ban in coastal areas including Arakan State, in an effort to replenish marine fisheries resources.

The Arakan Rakkhita Group (ARG) has offered to provide free ploughing services if internally displaced people (IDPs) in Arakan State’s Sittwe Township would like to grow winter crops.

Public health advocates in Sittwe launched a mask and face shield distribution campaign at seven busy junctions in the Arakan State capital on November 23 as the numbers of COVID-19 infections and deaths are once again on the rise in the state. 

Ten human rights organisations released a statement on Monday urging the immediate and unconditional release of students across the country who have been arrested for protesting rights abuses in Arakan State, with the joint communiqué also demanding the dropping of charges against them. 

An Ayeyarwady Region man was released from prison on November 23 after completing his sentence on charges of unlawful association and illegal publication of a controversial calendar, the freed man and his family said.

About one-fifth of the female candidates who ran in this month’s general election for seats in Arakan State emerged victorious, including two women who will be only the second and third sworn in as lawmakers in the state legislature.  

More than 42,000 ballots were invalidated or “missing” in the November 8 general election in Arakan State, according to the state election subcommission.

Locals in Paletwa Township, Chin State, which shares a border with northern Arakan State, want access to the Kyauktaw-Paletwa waterway restored at a time when fighting between the Tatmadaw and the Arakan Army (AA) has eased.

Myanmar’s Fisheries Department has warned of the need to better protect marine resources along the Arakan State coast, which has been assessed as the resource-poorest of the country’s three coastal regions.