The Chin Human Rights Organization (CHRO) has claimed that the Arakan Army (AA) forced local villagers in Paletwa Township, Chin State, to sell rice to the ethnic armed group at prices below prevailing market rates.

The President’s Office on October 23 shed more light on ministry and departmental inputs provided to the Union Election Commission (UEC) ahead of its decision earlier this month to cancel voting in all or parts of 56 Myanmar townships ahead of the November 8 general election. 

Some Arakan Front Party (AFP) candidates have called on the Union Election Commission (UEC) to reconsider its decision to cancel elections in Arakan State’s Pauktaw Township, which they contend is capable of holding the polls as the effects of the broader Arakan conflict have been negligible there.

Six boats loaded with illegal goods and timber destined for Bangladesh have been seized by authorities in Arakan State’s Maungdaw Township, with three boatmen aboard testing positive for COVID-19. 

Cancelled elections in Arakan State’s Pauktaw and Maungdaw townships will disenfranchise more than 225,000 eligible voters, according to the township election subcommissions, as critics dispute the contention that security concerns are preventing the election from being held there. 

A total of 183 civil society organisations issued a joint statement on October 23 condemning the detention of student protesters demanding an end to armed conflict in Arakan and Chin states. 

A senior government official has called on the Arakan Army to stop “causing distress to innocent civilians” as the warring sides continue to point fingers over who is responsible for a conflict that has displaced more than 200,000 people and prompted the cancellation of most elections in Arakan State this year. 

Myanmar’s Marine Administration Department says it has been unable to conduct field surveys for the national oil spill contingency plan (NOSCP) in Arakan State due to the coronavirus pandemic.  

Forty-two signboards containing information about COVID-19 were erected this month in Arakan State’s Mrauk-U Township, where internet access is poor, but a local youth activist says a handful of the boards have already been vandalised.  

As Myanmar barrels toward the November 8 election amid a pandemic, some of the teachers who will serve as poll workers are worried about the risk of contracting COVID-19 as an outbreak that began in mid-August shows no sign of abating.  

The National League for Democracy (NLD) on October 21 demanded the immediate release of three of the party’s candidates who were abducted by the Arakan Army (AA) in Taungup Township last week. 

Two town elders in Rathedaung Township, Arakan State, were abducted by an unidentified armed group on October 21, according to locals.

Shark and ray populations off the Arakan State coast have declined due to overfishing, according to local residents and organisations engaged in marine conservation. 

Due to local travel restrictions, a camp for internally displaced people (IDPs) called Sasana Beikman in Arakan State’s Kyauktaw Township is facing food shortages, according to camp inhabitants. 

A landmine blast killed one member of the security forces and injured four others in Arakan State’s Kyaukphyu Township on October 21, according to local residents.

The Arakan League for Democracy (ALD) said in a statement on October 19 that the failure to hold the general elections in non-conflict areas in Arakan State would deprive local people of their right to vote.

Union Election Commission member U Myint Naing said it had obtained opinions and remarks from the Union Government, the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Home Affairs to mark and announce the townships not holding election.

Two sexagenarians succumbed to COVID-19 at Sittwe General Hospital this week, bringing the statewide death toll from the disease to 14, according to Dr. Soe Win Paing, assistant director of the Arakan State Public Health Department.  

Police have opened a case against four students who were arrested on October 19 after staging a protest against the government and military in the Arakan State capital Sittwe.