Three ethnic armed groups – TNLA, MNDAA and the AA released a joint statement on August 12, asking Tatmadaw to stop launching offensives in Arakan State and northern Myanmar.

Before artillery shells landed in the village, the sound of mine explosion and gunfire could be heard from a place about one mile west of the village at about 6p.m, said the senior monk of the village monastery.

The Youth Committee from Arakan National Party (ANP) requested the government to stop arresting Arakanese youths on suspicion of ties with the AA and detaining and torturing youths, some of which died during their incarceration.

The minister for Security and Border Affairs of a region should have good relations with local residents to support a region’s stability, but Colonel Phone Tint was weak in public relations, said U Khaing Kaung San, Executive Director of the Wan Lark Foundation.  

The Myanmar government has cut off Internet service in war torn areas in eight townships in Arakan State and Paletwa Township in Chin State for 50 days. The Internet blackout has reached 50 days on 10 August.

Civilians who have lost limbs due to artillery fire or landmine explosions due to ongoing fighting need prosthetic replacements, aid workers said. 

The Yangon Region’s Western District court indicted Arakanese deportees under the Counter-Terrorism Law that might carry a life sentence on 9 August.

Five schools in Rathedaung Township and eight schools in Minbya Township have been closed after villagers fled to safety during fighting in their areas, said U Sein Tun Hla, deputy director general of the Arakan State Education Office.

The administrator of Thameehla (Yet Khone Daing) village in RathedaungTownship is a staunch supporter of the Arakan Army and attacked military troops many times with explosive devices, the Tatmadaw announced.

The humanitarian assistance for Arakanese IDPs has been decreasing because the Arakan State government has limited INGOs, apart from the WFP and ICRC, to provide aid for Arakanese IDP camps and imposed restriction on local CSOs to apply for permits before collecting funds for IDPs, he said.

Local parliamentarians said they found at the end of July that a fish crushing factory near Pin Lal Nar village in Kin Myauk village tract of Kyauk Phyu Township was planning to run the factory on coal.

The number of students enrolled in monastic schools in Arakan State has increased this year because of fighting between Tatmadaw and Arakan Army (AA), said the venerable monk U Ar Yiya Wantha, secretary of a monastic school group. 

The Tatmadaw troops moved into the village shooting guns that scared local residents and they fled from their homes, said a villager who fled from their home and on the condition of anonymity.

Tatmadaw soldiers on August 5 arrested a primary school teacher, Nay Zaw Linn, 27, who worked in Pyin Chaung Village of Buthedaung Township, for questioning.

Four of 11 people arrested by police for alleged links to the Arakan Army (AA) were allowed to meet their families on August 8 at Ponnagyun township’s police station, U Maung Maung Than, a family member of detainees  told DMG.

The government has provided adequate assistance to the increasing number of IDPs in northern Arakan State, said Deputy Minister for Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement U SoeAung.

A township court on August 7 fined members of Ya Kha Taw Win charity group for collecting donations without a permit from the authorities.

Relief aid groups have to submit applications to proper township administrators to raise funds in towns and villages, but authorities have delayed granting permits.

“Soldiers told us we were not allowed to go to these villages because of their superiors’ orders. By obstructing villagers to seek a safe and secure haven is a form of violating human rights because all citizens have a right to move where they please,”