Among the tens of thousands of civilians displaced by conflict between Myanmar’s military and the Arakan Army, some have been away from their homes for more than two years. So when a tentative ceasefire was reached circa October 2020, significant numbers of internally displaced people (IDPs) packed their bags and headed home.  

Each year spoon-billed sandpipers leave their homeland and travel thousands of miles south to escape the cold, food-scarce climate during the winter. After wintering for a while at warmer latitudes, the spoon-billed sandpipers return to their homeland: Siberia, Russia. Therefore, people living in foreign lands and returning in droves are often compared to Siberians.

Council member U Than Tun said authorities would not build new shelters for the fire victims, but would arrange accommodation and provide one month’s food if they return to their homes. 

“I want to stay at home. However, I have not gotten a chance to stay at my home for a long time. I am worried that when [I do return], new clashes will occur,” U Oo Tun Hlaing says pensively.

On a temporary deployment near Taungshae Mountain and Tinma village, the Tatmadaw’s Light Infantry Division No. 55 is accused of detaining eight villagers from “new” Tinma village on March 13, and 10 people from Tinmagyi village on March 16.

Yohei Sasakawa, special envoy of the government of Japan for national reconciliation in Myanmar, was visiting Arakan State to see if conditions were suitable for holding elections in nine northern townships where voting in the November 8 general election was cancelled for security reasons. 

The applicant must be at least 35 years of age. Must be an incoming Arakan State Hluttaw representative as a winner in the November 8 general election. Must be ready to lead from Day One. The emergency issue to be handled as a matter of priority: termination of two years of armed conflict in Arakan State.  

The general election is just over a week away. November 8 is about choosing representatives for the respective Hluttaws through the votes of the people. In other words, it is about what the government will look like beyond 2020.

The emergence of state constitutions is among the most important of the federal principles that ethnic armed organisations have been demanding for more than 70 years. 

A mosquito net is normally an accessory to protect sleepers from the bites of mosquitoes and other insects, but at a camp for internally displaced people (IDPs) in the Arakan State capital Sittwe, it is more than just that.

On a day marked as “historic,” in a vote relatively free of irregularities, which brought seismic changes to Myanmar’s halls of power, the lasting memories of Election Day 2015 for Ma Win Swe are of crowding at her polling place, long waits in line, and a traumatising tumble.

“They are war-displaced people, so they have trauma. They are not interested in learning too much,” said a primary school teacher from Rathedaung town who has taught IDP students. 

 May 21 marks the 11-month anniversary of a mobile internet ban imposed on seven Arakan State townships and Paletwa Township, Chin State, on June 21, 2019.

With increasing numbers of people forced to flee their homes and civilian casualties continuing to mount, for many there is little time to ponder COVID-19’s deadly march across the world. It is not that they live without fear of the pandemic, but rather that their fear is tempered by limits on the amount of information they receive about it, and its relative place in the hierarchy of numerous daily concerns to be paid heed.

The military handed over three people including U Maung Phyu Tun, 73, to the Kyauktaw police station on March 4 and police thereafter informed the detainees’ family members, said U Kyaw Kyaw, son of U Maung Phyu Tun. U Kyaw Kyaw said a policeman phoned him at about 8 p.m. saying soldiers had left his father at the Kyauktaw police station.

There are many significant days for Arakanese people in Arakan State, but only one day is an official occasion. That day is Arakan State Day, which the government started celebrating on December 15, 1975.

The conflicts between the Tatmadaw and the AA in Arakan State has forced villagers from their homes, resulting in students losing out on their education.

Daw Jar Yone’s husband left home about six months ago. Since then, she has lost contact with her husband, she said. This downhearted pregnant woman has been staying in a refugee camp with her four children without any job prospects.

“We’d like to designate U Ottama Day as an official holiday in Arakan State if it is not declared for the whole Myanmar,” said Ko Kyaw Naing Htay, chair of Students’ Union of Sittwe University.