Myanmar’s Union Election Commission (UEC) will reportedly hold talks with concerned officials about restoring internet access in Arakan State ahead of the 2020 general election.

The military has launched what were described as “counter-terrorism operations” against the Arakan Army near Kyauktan, Hteeswel and Aung Thazi villages in Rathedaung Township, Arakan State. 

 The families of five Ramree Township men arrested by the Tatmadaw are concerned for the detainees’ safety after one of their peers died in military custody last week.

Two cottage hospitals in Ramree and Taungup townships have been without doctors — the latter facility since 2017 — and face calls from local residents that they be properly staffed with licensed physicians. 

A patient from Kyauktaw Township known as Case 339, who tested positive for coronavirus, was found to have been in contact with illegal entrants from Bangladesh, according to the township medical superintendent. 

The Arakan State government has been weak in implementing proposals approved by the state legislature, some lawmakers say. 

A batch of school computers and bicycles provided by the government for high schools and their students in Taungup Township, which sunk in a shipwreck in June, will be recorded as losses, but replacements cannot be provided this year, according to an official from the Department of Basic Education. 

People from the upper reaches of Paletwa Township, Chin State, are facing difficulties because they have reportedly been prohibited from transporting food and medicine into the area by the military. 

Legal action should be taken against those involved in the killing of a 31-year-old man from Pikethae ward in Kyauktaw town, Arakan State, the victim’s family said. 

In the first four years of the National League for Democracy (NLD) government’s five-year term, cases involving violations of free speech were filed against 1,051 people, according to a July 16 statement from the freedom of expression group Athan. 

The All Arakan Students’ and Youths’ Congress (AASYC) has submitted to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) a report on human rights violations committed by the government and military amid ongoing armed conflict in Arakan State.

Plans to adopt online teaching and learning at universities in Myanmar during the COVID-19 pandemic were made without due consideration for the situation in Arakan State, where more than 1 million people are without internet access, according to the Arakan Students’ Union.

A clash broke out near Kyauktan village in Arakan State’s Rathedaung Township on the afternoon of July 16, injuring three villagers, according to residents.

A returnee from China who was under quarantine in Yaung Sone village, Kyauktaw Township, reportedly died on July 14 at Apaukwa cottage hospital, but his death is not being attributed to COVID-19.

Two men from Yay Nan Dwein village in Arakan State’s Kyaukphyu Township were arrested by the Myanmar Army on July 13, according to family members of the detainees. 

The family of a villager in Arakan State who died by hanging while in military custody says it has no faith in the Tatmadaw’s official explanation for his violent demise. 

Sales of dried fish have been on the decline due to lower market demand, according to dried fish merchants in the Arakan State capital Sittwe, who cite adverse conditions including ongoing conflict in the region and the COVID-19 pandemic as reasons for the slump. 

Nine people who were trapped in Chainkharli village, Rathedaung Township, due to fighting near the village on Monday morning were rescued on Tuesday evening, according to the village administrator.

Political parties in Arakan State are struggling to make preparations for the upcoming general election due to the prolonged internet shutdown affecting some townships, according to party officials.