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.

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) has ended its “Tat Lan” sustainable food and livelihoods program in Arakan State after five years, shutting down the aid initiative a year earlier than planned as the committee cited a lack of cooperation from the state government.

Four students were killed and five others were injured, along with their tutor, by an explosion near Htate Htoo Pauk (Muslim) village in Buthidaung Township, northern Arakan State, at around 10 a.m. on January 7, a village leader told DMG.

Petition signatures are being collected to demand the immediate restoration of internet access in four Arakan State townships where residents have been denied connectivity for more than six months.

Young people in Mrauk-U district have rejected an offer of the Arakan State Youth Affairs Committee to join its district committee because they do not trust the latter’s policy and the district-level committee is centralized, the Mrauk-U Youth Association (MUYA) said in a statement released on January 5.

U Than Hla, secretary of Sein Pyar environment preservation group, said that although civil society organizations like his clean the streets frequently, people still litter and the city’s main street, Shu Khin Thar Road, is a mess of plastic bags, empty bottles and leftover food.

The Myanmar Teachers’ Federation says it won’t assist in the upcoming 2020 election if the government does not backtrack on plans to increase the length of the academic year at basic education schools, leveling its ultimatum in a statement released on January 5.

The explosion of a landmine near the village was followed by gunfire and an artillery shell landed in the village, wounding Ma Oo Win Aye, 20, who was having dinner at her home, said U Kyaw Nyunt Tin.

President U Win Myint urged all national races to unite and participate in efforts to build a peaceful, democratic federal union and to amend the Constitution, in a message marking the 72nd anniversary of Myanmar’s independence on January 4.

The commander-in-chief of the Defence Services, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, said the Tatmadaw has resorted to addressing problems via military means because the leaders of some ethnic armed groups are not sufficiently committed to peace.

The Arakan Army (AA) has said that there were at least 681 clashes lasting longer than 30 minutes between its forces and the Tatmadaw in Arakan State last year.

Travellers are increasingly opting for waterways over land routes as they make their way around Arakan State, where active armed conflict and tightened security have made overland options less appealing, according to manager of Shwe Pyi Tan Express Boat Service in Sittwe.

Two police officers from the Thazinmyaing Border Guard outpost in Buthidaung Township, Arakan State, have been detained by the Arakan Army (AA), according to a January 4 statement from the ethnic armed group, which alleged that the two men were found in possession of yaba tablets at the time of their arrest.

Arakan State MP U Naing Kywe Aye is again spotlighting illegal shoreline construction of hotels at Ngapali Beach in Arakan State, with the lawmaker asking why action has not yet been taken against the hoteliers more than eight months after he first raised the issue in the legislature.

A motion urging the local government to assist farmers who are struggling to harvest and store their crops due to ongoing clashes between the Tatmadaw and the Arakan Army (AA) was approved by the Arakan State assembly on January 2.

“The local government needs to supply local people who have been charged by the Tatmadaw with necessary assistance because they face many difficulties. In addition, families of the victims of conflict and injured people should be furnished with assistance,”

“They were wrongfully arrested. We don’t have any ties to the Arakan Army. We are ordinary people and we have never seen the Arakan Army. I feel happy and sad at the same time for those who were released from prison,”

All of Myanmar’s ethnic people should nourish the union spirit to strengthen unity and cooperation among each other, the speaker of the Arakan State parliament, U San Kyaw Hla, said during a session of the regional parliament in Sittwe on January 2.

Three ethnic armed groups from the Northern Alliance have extended by two months a unilateral ceasefire with the government that the trio had initially declared in September 2019, in an effort to jumpstart peace talks and create a peaceful environment for elections slated to take place later this year.