Clashes between the Tatmadaw and the Arakan Army (AA) at Taung Nhit Lone Kyaw Mountain in Myebon Township on December 23 have forced more than 1,200 residents from nearby Sa Nyin village to flee their homes.

Two residents of Phar Wat Chaung village in Maungdaw Township, Arakan State, were charged under the Counter-Terrorism Law and remanded into custody by a court in Buthidaung Township on December 23.

The Arakan Army ethnic armed group is attempting to clamp down on the sale and use of illicit narcotics in Arakan State, posting letters of warning in some of the state’s townships.

Family members said they suspect that the pair, who went missing while harvesting their paddy fields near Mt. Yay Htoe in Kam Htaung Gyi, were taken by Tatmadaw troops because a military contingent from Light Infantry Division 66 was stationed near the area.

More than 400 people from Ywar Thar Yar and Chone Chaung villages in Arakan State’s Myebon Township are facing food shortages as the Tatmadaw has prohibited them from bringing foodstuffs and other supplies into their villages.

Two fishermen from northern Arakan State’s Kyauktaw Township were allegedly beaten by members of a military contingent as they were returning home from a trip to a local market, with one sent to the township hospital due to serious injuries.

A man from Kyauk Yan village in Arakan State’s Rathedaung Township has been held in military custody for more than a week, but with no further information about his situation yet made available, family members are expressing concern for his safety.

Two men from Hpa Wut Chaung village in Arakan State’s Maungdaw Township were detained last week by a military column near Thone Se Ta Bone Pagoda in neighboring Buthidaung Township, family members said.

Two young people from Ywathit village, part of the Melat Moung village-tract in Arakan State’s Ann Township, were allegedly shot dead by the Tatmadaw on 17 December, according to the victims’ family members.

With an Internet shutdown in some Arakan State townships now in place for over six months, one of the world’s longest blackouts of its kind continues to prompt criticism from civil society organizations.

A village administrator in Arakan State’s Minbya Township, accused by the Tatmadaw of being an Arakan Army (AA) cadre and found dead earlier this month, had no such ties to the ethnic armed group, according to the dead man’s family and an AA spokesperson.

Though the harvest season is upon farmers in Arakan State, a local from Minbya Township says many are struggling to reap their paddy with fighting ongoing nearby.

Fighting between the Tatmadaw and the Arakan Army may intensify in Arakan State and the conflict zone could widen, the AA said in a statement released on 17 December.

“Political dialogues are emerging now to set basic policies to build a democratic federal Union in line with the wishes of all people in Myanmar. At this time, does it really require the use of violent means, which harm people?” asked Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

“Guns fired continuously while she was standing in her house compound after she returned from a wedding. Artillery shells landed like rainfall around her house, which is located in the center of Kam Htaung Gyi town. One of them hit her head directly, damaging her skull seriously,”

The three roadside blasts in front of the Nga Inn village cemetery, about two miles from Manaung town, were reported on 19 December at about 6:30 a.m. The state counsellor arrived at Manaung town at 9 a.m. and attended the opening ceremony for the solar power plant in Kha Ohn Maw village.

About 20 schools have been temporarily shuttered in Arakan State’s Minbya Township due to recent clashes between the Tatmadaw and the Arakan Army (AA), according to members of the education communities in the township.

President U Win Myint used the occasion of Arakan State Day last week to urge the people of Myanmar’s troubled westernmost state to do their part to bring about the stability that will allow the region to realize its development potential.

The Arakan National Party says poll organizers should negotiate with the Arakan Army (AA) to hold elections in conflict-torn Arakan State ahead of the 2020 nationwide vote, but the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) is arguing that such talks would not be appropriate given the current political climate.