In a New Year’s speech on Sunday, the acting president of the National Unity Government (NUG), Duwa Lashi La, called 2023 an important year for the revolution against Myanmar’s military regime and a turning of political fortunes.

A university student and a motorcycle taxi driver who were detained on November 1 at the Kyeinchaung security checkpoint in Maungdaw, Arakan State, and charged under the Unlawful Associations Act were released on Sunday, according to family members.

Because some 100 village administrators in Arakan State’s Rathedaung and Ponnagyun townships have recently submitted their resignation letters, residents living in the affected townships are reportedly facing difficulties in administrative matters involving everything from travel to ID cards to simply going to work.

The verdict in a high-profile Sittwe murder case was postponed on December 30, according to family members of the accused. 

Five ethnic armed organisations (EAOs) that are members of the Peace Process Steering Committee (PPST) have agreed to the election that Myanmar’s military regime plans to hold next year.

Displaced residents of Tinma Village in Kyauktaw Township, Arakan State, continue to demand that the regime arrange for their return amid an informal ceasefire between the military and the Arakan Army (AA).

At least 10 people were reportedly injured in a bomb blast at a wedding reception in Waidi Village, part of Tanintharyi Region’s Launglon Township, on December 29.

A business owner in Thandwe Township has provided part-time jobs for students from the Government Technical Institute (GTI) in the town during their holidays so that they can have an income and learn to make good use of their time.

A private vehicles supervisory committee in Thandwe Township under the junta-controlled Thandwe District transportation department is collecting a registration fee of K20,000 from tuk-tuk (autorickshaw) drivers to form a tutk-tuk association.

The Arakan State Education Department will run matriculation exam centres primarily in towns because few matriculation students are taking the exam, according to the head of the Myanmar Examinations Department, who recently informed district and township education officers of the plan.

Representatives of seven ethnic armed organisations (EAOs) have reportedly met the new Chinese special envoy to Myanmar, Deng Xijun, in China’s Yunnan Province in recent days.

The school fee for distance learners at Sittwe University for the 2023 academic year has more than doubled, according to Sittwe University staff.

A man from Minbya Township, Arakan State, has been detained for about one year, but a ruling in his case has yet to be delivered by the court, according to family members.

A new port in Sittwe that is part of the Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project will be opened soon to allow direct trade between Myanmar and India, according to the Arakan State military council.

More than 844 tonnes of illegal timber were seized in Arakan State from January 1 to December 15 of 2022, according to data from the Arakan State Forest Department.

More than 3,000 Arakanese people who were recently evicted from Defence Ministry-owned land in Yangon are struggling to make ends meet.

Internally displaced people (IDPs) from Abaungthar Village in Chin State’s Paletwa Township who have recently been forced to return to their village by Myanmar’s military regime are in need of food supplies.

Family members have called for a speedier trial in the case of a man and woman in Arakan State’s Kyaukphyu arrested on suspicion of having links to the Arakan Army (AA) and facing incitement charges under Section 505(a) of the Penal Code. 

A Buddhist monk was killed and four people, including two other monks and a novice, were injured by artillery strikes in Kayin (Karen) State’s Kawkareik Township on December 26, according to local residents.