Five people from Ponnagyun Township have been arrested on 15 July for suspicion of having ties with the Arakan Army (AA).

The Arakan Army released a statement yesterday denouncing the statement of the Tatmadaw alleging the AA of running away after starting fires in Nwa Yon Taung village in Buthidaung Township.

About 150 people held a protest in front of the Singapore and Myanmar Embassies in Washington DC in the U.S.A on 15 July as a move to object the actions of the Singaporean government.

Since the ongoing fighting between the Tatmadaw and the Arakan Army has resulted regional instability and joblessness, sales of gold have been falling in Arakan State, gold shop owners said.

Members of parliament in the affected areas said that the government and CSOs are still sluggish in providing relief aid for flood victims who have been encountering food and living challenges.

Myanmar has verified 18,629 names from the list of 22,432 persons, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on 15 July. Bangladeshi authorities sent the list of displaced people to Myanmar officials.

The main challenges for farmers are the lack of agricultural equipment and high production costs, said U Maung Thar Hla, a farmer from Mawrawati village.

“I have been charged under section 302 based on the previous complaint.  There is no evidence for this indictment. I was in Yangon when the murder happened. They want to proceed to examine evidence further. So, they indicted me,”

It has been five days since two Arakanese deportees from Singapore have been arrested along with their driver and their family members could not meet them yet.

Two men from Yoetayote village in Ponnagyun Township were held by the Tatmadaw on 15 July, family members told the DMG.

A clash broke out at a mountain range east of Nwayonetaung village in Buthidaung Township on Saturday, houses caught fire and villagers had fled to safety but an old blind man and a mental ill person were left stranded in the village, said the village administrator.

Days of heavy rain in Arakan State has left the Mrauk U-Sittwe Highway flooded and created transportation difficulties for residents. 

Flooding in Kyauktaw, Mrauk-U and Minbya townships in Arakan State has affected many communities and forced over 9,500 people to leave their homes, according to government officials.

A three-mile-long river bank between Zin Chaung and Kyauk Kalat villages is suffering from severe erosion, said Arakan State Hluttaw member U Phoe San. 

More than 2,500 people from Kyauktaw, Mrauk-U and Minbya townships have been forced to leave their homes to escape flooding, U Ye Min Oo, a staff officer of the State Natural Disaster Management, told DMG on July 13. 

“We cannot get and transmit information similar to 2015 when flooding occurred. I think we will have to tell to each individual how we provide aid and our travel itineraries by using only a mobile phone,” he said.

About 3000 refugees from Tin Nyo IDP camp in Mrauk-U Township have been affected by  flood while they live in squalor and lack health care and educational service, according the officials from the camp.

An investigation is going to be set up as of 12 July in order to find out the truth about the deaths of detained villagers in custody while the Tatmadaw was questioning them under suspicion of involvement with the Arakan Army, the Tatmadaw True News Information Team said.  

The UN special envoy to Myanmar Ms. Christine Schraner Burgener met the Arakan State cabinet on 12 July and discussed the ongoing armed conflicts between the Tatmadaw and the AA.