Chinese Special Envoy for Asian Affairs Sun Guoxiang met with leaders of the Arakan Army (AA) and urged the ethnic armed group to reduce clashes and refrain from attacks on the Tatmadaw, AA spokesperson Khaing Thukha has told DMG.

About 40 villages in Ann Township, Arakan State, are facing difficulties because their residents are unable to use water transport due to clashes between the Tatmadaw and the Arakan Army (AA), locals say.

A total of 172 Muslims detained in waters off Kawthaung town in Tanintharyi Region were brought back to Arakan State by helicopter on the afternoon of January 13.

While the three men – road contractor U Soe Nyein, backhoe owner U Maung Poe Khin and backhoe driver Ko Maung Yan Naing from Kyauk Kalay village – were repairing a road, they were detained at the base of Baw Lan Mountain, between Mu Yin and Zin Chaung villages, on the evening of December 26.

The explosion occurred at the compound of a house in Yote Thar village, Kyauktaw Township, while a resident was burning waste discarded by a Tatmadaw unit temporarily stationed there since last month, said U Maung Htwee Aung, father of the injured children.

The recent abduction of a 7-year-old girl in Sittwe has some parents in the Arakan State capital reevaluating their childcare routines amid fears that other children may likewise be targeted.

Three locals including a teacher from Hsee Pha Laung village in Paletwa Township, Chin State, were found dead on January 10, three days after they were abducted by an unknown armed group, according to a person familiar with the matter who declined to be named for security reasons.

A 10-month-old boy was reportedly hit and killed by a stray bullet in a village of Minbya Township, Arakan State, over the weekend. Family members of the victim are accusing the Tatmadaw of having fired the shot, but the military has denied those accusations.

A 7-year-old girl was allegedly raped by two men in Kyaukphyu Township, Arakan State, on January 10, according to a source from the local police station.

A petition pushing back against the formation of a tribunal to investigate 16 drivers who were recently abducted and subsequently released by the Arakan Army (AA) will be submitted to State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

A woman from Kha Moung Taw village in Arakan State’s Ann Township has been hospitalized after allegedly being tortured by Tatmadaw soldiers, the victim’s husband told DMG. The military, however, has refuted the accusation.

“An artillery shell fired by a Tatmadaw unit on the other side of the river fell near a tamarind tree in front of my house at about 3 p.m. … My daughter sustained calf muscle strain injuries and she is now receiving medical treatment at Mrauk-U Hospital,”

Phoenix Restaurant, on Athawka Road in Yangon’s Tamway Township, had been closed for a week prior to January 9, when anti-money laundering authorities, police officers and officials from the Bureau of Special Investigation descended on the eatery to seal off the premises.

Farmers who grow winter vegetables in Maungdaw Township, northern Arakan State, say they are losing money because they don’t have any government support and labor costs have increased.

Hostilities in 2015 between the Tatmadaw and the AA began in Paletwa Township, Chin State, and then also spilled over into Ponnagyun Township, Arakan State, which initially saw an intensified conflict that has since subsided.

“In the short term, you will be drifted along in the armed conflicts, driven by your swollen pride, hatred and prejudices. But in the long run, what has been sacrificed behind the scenes of smoke and gunfire is the lives of our national races, the regions where they had been settled,”

Hostilities erupted on the evening of December 30 in Kyauktaw town, during which the roof of the institute was blown off and its staff hall and restrooms were damaged by artillery shell fire. Since then, the school has been shuttered.

Arakan State Chief Minister U Nyi Pu met internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Sittwe on January 6 and encouraged them to speak up about their needs, promising that he would see to it that the necessary assistance is provided.

An explosion that killed four schoolchildren and injured six others this week near Htate Htoo Pauk village in Buthidaung Township, Arakan State, was due to an artillery shell and not a landmine, the students’ teacher Ali Zuhar, who was also injured in the blast, told DMG.