A crowd amassed in a Maungdaw Township ward on Friday as thousands of Muslims turned up to purchase cows for Eid al-Adha despite instructions from the Ministry of Health and Sports to avoid large gatherings during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Arakanese businesspeople say commodity flows and trade have declined as the COVID-19 pandemic has brought an economic downturn in Arakan State much as it has nationwide and globally.

The body of a villager who was allegedly shot dead by the military weeks ago was discovered in a latrine on July 31 in the compound of his home in Chainkharli village, Rathedaung Township, said family members of the victim. 

The international pressure facing Myanmar is primarily related to conflicts in Arakan State, Union Minister for International Cooperation U Kyaw Tin acknowledged at an Amyotha Hluttaw session on July 30.  

The National Reconciliation and Peace Center (NRPC) has provided K50 million ($36,500) in financial aid to members of the Arakan Liberation Party and their families amid the COVID-19 crisis.

A landmine killed a villager outside Jade Chaung village, Ann Township, on July 29, and another landmine nearby killed a second man and injured a third the next day when they went to retrieve the body of the first, according to local residents.

The Myanmar Press Council (MPC) held talks this week with the Ministry of Information about the role of the news media, including the government’s blocking of certain news outlets’ websites. 

With fighting between the military and Arakan Army well into its second year, the number of people detained for alleged links to the ethnic armed group continues to rise, with critics arguing that due process and basic rights for the accused have been jettisoned in authorities’ zeal to nab supposed “terrorists” and their sympathisers. 

Traffic along a section of road between the town of Mrauk-U and Oakphawkan village in Arakan State’s Mrauk-U Township came to a standstill when a gunfight erupted between the military and Arakan Army at around 5 a.m. on July 30, with hostilities lasting about 30 minutes, according to locals.

Two residents of Kyan Chaing village in Arakan State’s Kyaukphyu Township were arrested over alleged connections to the Arakan Army, the Tatmadaw True News Information Team said on July 29.

Just over half of all basic education high schools in Arakan State have been unable to reopen to date, according to state education officials, while high schools elsewhere across Myanmar largely resumed classes on July 21.

Representatives from the Shwe Minn Tha Foundation (Myanmar) held a discussion with members of the Arakan State government cabinet about conducting mine risk education programmes in townships plagued by conflict in the state, according to an official from the foundation.

Amyotha Hluttaw lawmaker Daw Htoot May put forward a proposal to upgrade Arakan State’s Kyaukphyu Airport in the coming fiscal year during a regular session of the upper chamber on July 28.

In a show of interfaith solidarity amid the ongoing conflict in Arakan State, Hindus and Muslims in the state have donated relief supplies to internally displaced people (IDPs) who fled their homes due to hostilities between the military and Arakan Army over recent months.

A total of 118 civil society organisations (CSOs) in Arakan State issued a joint statement on July 27 calling on authorities to uncover the truth and administer justice in a rape case recently filed against three Tatmadaw servicemen. 

Contamination has recently been discovered in rivers and creeks in Arakan State’s Ann Township, residents said.

Due to clashes occurring between the Tatmadaw and Arakan Army on or near roads in Arakan State, transportation has been disrupted and trade flows are being delayed, traders say.

Three out of four people who were sentenced to two years in prison under the Unlawful Associations Act for the circulation and sale of a calendar that ruffled feathers last year in Ayeyarwady Region were released early and walked free on July 27. 

A military battalion entered Leik Kha Maw village in Arakan State’s Kyaukphyu Township and detained a 20-year-old man on July 26, according to local residents and an Arakan State lawmaker.