Myanmar’s military junta and the Arakan Army (AA) are making preparations to organise celebrations for the Thingyan water festival in their respective areas of control.

Cashew nut growers in Arakan State say their profits are down due to a poor harvest this year, despite the fact that cashews are fetching good prices.

Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing has visited Arakan State three times this year, more than two years after he seized power in a coup on February 1, 2021.

A man was killed when a fire tore through his home in Apaukwa Village, part of Arakan State’s Kyauktaw Township, on Friday night.

They were working at Cal-Comp Electronic Public Co Ltd in Samut Sakhon Province near Bangkok. Redundancy notices were issued to 1,050 Myanmar workers on March 31.

The Arakan National Council/Arakan Army (ANC/AA) has urged the National Unity Consultative Council (NUCC) to create a landscape in which all the pro-democracy and ethnic revolutionary forces can participate in building a federal Union.

The Ponnagyun-Rathedaung road has been blockaded for nearly 10 months despite the latest ceasefire between the military and Arakan Army (AA) being reached on November 26 of last year, according to residents, who say the road remains closed to even local traffic.

Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing promised upgrades for Sittwe University in the Arakan State capital during the current academic year as he and officials from the regime’s Education Ministry visited campus on Thursday and met the rector and faculty members.

The Arakan Army (AA), which observed an informal ceasefire with the military in late November, has reportedly been carrying out developmental tasks in its areas of control.

A young man was reportedly killed and two others wereinjured after the military carried out airstrikes on Dawtamagyi Village in Kayah (Karreni) State and fired mortar shells into the village on Thursday.

Many of the displaced residents of Abaungthar village in Chin State’s Paletwa Township who have recently returned to their village have gone back to Paletwa town, citing the difficulties of earning a livelihood in their village.

Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing is in the Arakan State capital Sittwe to consecrate a pagoda built by his predecessor in the role of Myanmar military dictator, Than Shwe.

DMG Newsroom
30 March 2023, Sittwe

Despite the latest ceasefire between the Arakan Army (AA) and Myanmar military, reached on November 26, the latter has dispatched reinforcements to some townships in Arakan State and increased its military presence over recent days, according to locals.

Myanmar Navy vessels reportedly transported troops to Rathedaung, Buthidaung and Maungdaw via Yay Chan Pyin Jetty in Sittwe, eyewitnesses said.

“We’ve seen the military’s reinforcement of not only troops but also food supplies and weapons...

The border trade between Myanmar and Thailand has temporarily ceased after an import-export office in the border trade zone in Myawaddy, Kayin (Karen) State, was attacked and burned to the ground.

Although it has been more than four months since the Myanmar military and Arakan Army (AA) observed an informal ceasefire on November 26, a curfew order remains in place in over half of Arakan State’s 17 townships.

A nipa palm product manufactured in Arakan State’s Kyaukphyu won first prize in a national-level local products contest.

Peace talks between the junta’s peace negotiating team and seven signatories to the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) will not deliver any positive steps toward internal peace in Myanmar, observers say.

Some 1,500 people from 363 households who were displaced by fighting between the military and Arakan Army (AA) and were sheltering in Samee town, part of Chin State’s Paletwa Township, have returned home voluntarily, the junta-controlled broadcaster MRTV said on Wednesday.

The National League for Democracy (NLD), which is among dozens of political parties disbanded by the military regime over their failure to meet a deadline to re-register, said in a statement on March 29 that “as long as there are people, the party will exist.”