The military regime is using locals whom it has forcibly conscripted to fight the Arakkha Army (AA) in Arakan State’s Thandwe Township, according to residents.

The Shan State Progress Party/Shan State Army-North (SSPP/SSA-N) has declared war against the Myanmar military regime, becoming the latest ethnic armed group to join the nationwide armed revolt against the military,

The Arakkha Army (AA) has seized two more border guard police battalions in Arakan State’s Maungdaw, where military tensions between the military and AA are running high, according to a local source on the ground.

Since the February 2021 coup, 194 journalists have been detained, and of them, 62 are still detained, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) said in a statement on May 3.

Fighting between the military and Arakkha Army (AA) is ongoing near Shwehlay Bridge in Thandwe Township, Arakan State, according to local people.

According to the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) 2024 press freedom ranking of 180 countries, Myanmar ranks 171st.

Myanmar’s military regime has suspended salaries for government employees in Arakan State’s Pauktaw, Ponnagyun, Rathedaung, Buthidaung, Maungdaw, Kyauktaw and Minbya townships.

The Arakkha Army (AA) has reportedly seized the junta’s No. 1 Border Guard Force (BGF) headquarters in Kyee Kan Pyin Village, part of Arakan State’s Maungdaw Township.

The regime is blatantly committing war crimes and violating human rights by deliberately torching private property, according to observers.

Among the Chinese citizens are hundreds of technicians who overnight at hotels in Kyaukphyu town and spend their days on Maday Island, site of the SEZ’s deep-sea port project, according to a Kyaukphyu resident.

Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for the United Nations Secretary-General, told a press briefing on May 1 that the UN team on the ground said they were concerned by the spreading of misinformation, disinformation and hate speech in Arakan State.

Exacerbating the unemployment woes, residents in Arakan State are suffering from soaring food prices.

Due to a scarcity of drinking water, some people are suffering from diarrhoea and there are even reports of deaths due to lack of medicine, said U Aung Myint, manager of the displacement camp.

“Firewood and charcoal have run out in Sittwe. We now have to cut down trees on the compounds of our houses for firewood. We don’t know what will happen,” said a Sittwe resident.

The Arakkha Army (AA) has accused the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), Arakan Rohingya Army (ARA) and Rohingya Solidarity Organization (RSO) and their allies of weaponizing the term ‘genocide.’

The Arakkha Army (AA) intercepted a convoy of 26 cargo trucks loaded with food supplies and weapons intended for junta troops in Arakan State on Tuesday, according to sources.

The Chin Brotherhood said Wednesday that it had seized total control of Kyindwe town in Chin State’s Kanpetlet Township on Monday after nearly four months of fighting.

The military regime has forcibly seized over 1,100 buildings including houses, schools and religious buildings since the coup, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) said in a report issued on Wednesday.

The Arakkha Army (AA) reportedly took complete control of two military camps on the Maungdaw-Buthidaung road in Maungdaw Township, Arakan State, on April 30.