More than 2,000 people from the villages of Min, Myit Nar and Htauk Chay in Minbya Township, Arakan State, fled their homes on May 5, fearing they would be interrogated by a military column that entered the settlements.

A 42-year-old woman from Ponnagyun town, Arakan State, was arrested by a group of authorities that included Tatmadaw and police personnel and the local ward administrator on the morning of May 6, witnesses said.

People in Arakan State’s IDP camps face a lack of information as well as difficulty following Ministry of Health guidelines concerning protection against COVID-19, according to one camp official.

Some people who have returned to Arakan State from Yangon and elsewhere in the country and abroad are complaining of unwelcoming conditions as they undergo mandatory 21-day facility quarantines in the state.

Eight wooden houses at Nga Tauktu Chay village in Arakan State’s Rathedaung Township were destroyed by fire on the evening of May 4, villagers said.

A 48-year-old internally displaced person (IDP) living at the Nyaung Chaung refugee camp in Arakan State’s Kyauktaw Township died after stepping on a landmine on May 4.

The Arakan State Minister for Security and Border Affairs and members of the management committee for the Zedipyin IDP camp in Ponnagyun Township on May 2 discussed returning the war refugees to their homes.

More than 800 internally displaced people (IDPs) who are sheltering at a monastery in Alae Gyun village, Ann Township, are facing food shortages as donors shy away from inspections required to access the war-affected population.

An independent journalists’ group comprising more than 180 reporters throughout Myanmar has called on President U Win Myint to address some of the challenges faced by the nation’s press corps.

Since the National League for Democracy government took office four years ago, the right to freedom of expression has been most significantly violated in Arakan State when compared with Myanmar’s other states and regions, according to the free speech advocacy group Athan. 

Fighting occurred between the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army and a Border Guard Force contingent on May 2 along the Myanmar-Bangladesh border, injuring two policemen, according to the Office of the Commander-in-Chief.

A Border Guard Force member was injured by gunfire near Done Pike village in Arakan State’s Rathedaung Township on May 2, according to local sources.

The mobile internet ban has been lifted in Maungdaw Township, Arakan State, one of nine townships in western Myanmar that have gone without online access for nearly 11 months.

A shipment of some 1,000 bags of rice from the World Food Programme (WFP) has made its way to Chin State’s Paletwa Township by boat after vehicles carrying the humanitarian aid provisions were attacked last week. 

A total of 257 Arakanese migrant workers employed in the Myanmar-China border region returned to Arakan State on May 1 after undergoing a 21-day quarantine in the town of Silu, Shan State, according to the workers.

An explosion occurred along the Angumaw-Maungdaw road in Maungdaw Township, Arakan State, on April 30, killing a local betel quid seller, said U Maung Kyan, the administrator of U Daung village.

Hundreds of residents of Kyanyokan village in Ponnagyun Township, Arakan State, fled their homes on May 1 amid a hail of artillery shells and small arms fire, according to locals.

April proved to be another bloody month in Arakan State as at least 32 civilians were killed and 68 were injured, according to DMG’s on-the-ground reporting, with conflict between the Tatmadaw and the Arakan Army continuing to upend lives. 

Locals are demanding that the government cut the proverbial ribbon on a newly constructed bridge connecting Kyaukphyu and Ramree townships as soon as possible.