Recent meetings between Myanmar and Bangladeshi border guard and police force officials will not result in substantive cooperation between the two sides, and will do little to quell Arakan Army (AA) attacks on Myanmar military positions along the border, observers say. 

Four journalists were killed in Myanmar since last year’s military coup, and five others were killed before the putsch dating back to 1999, with the perpetrators of these crimes enjoying impunity, Free Expression Myanmar (FEM) said in a statement marking International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists on Wednesday

Myanmar’s military regime has enacted the Organization Registration Law, which in the view of civil society organisations, activists and politicians is intended to restrict the operations of various organisations and associations, and contain the popular revolt against the junta. 

Thousands of locals in Kayin State’s Kawkareik Township have fled to safer locations as a military column has been raiding some villages near Kyaikdon town since November 2. 

With fighting between the Myanmar military and Arakan Army ongoing across much of Arakan State, the AA spokesman says the military’s conduct going forward will determine the ethnic armed group’s response.

Myanmar’s border trade with Bangladesh via Maungdaw has declined by almost 90 percent since the military regime imposed travel restrictions in mid-August along the Agnumaw-Maungdaw road, a key route for border commerce with Bangladesh, according to traders in Maungdaw.

Frequent artillery strikes by Myanmar military battalions and bases in Minbya, Kyauktaw and Buthidaung townships are making the rice harvest virtually impossible, many local farmers say. 

More than 100 people are struggling to make ends meet and need assistance after they were evicted from a plot of land adjacent to Yanaungmyay Monastery in Arakan State’s Buthidaung Township that the Myanmar military claims ownership of, according to camp officials and IDPs. 

Clashes between the military and Arakan Army (AA) were reported across three townships in western Myanmar over the past two days.

Hundreds of Myanmar migrant workers who went to work in Thailand under a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) did not get the jobs described in employment contracts and some recruitment agencies are refusing to take responsibility, according to activists engaged in defending and promoting Myanmar migrant workers’ rights.

Junta artillery strikes killed five people and injured at least 20 others in Kayah (Karenni) State last month, according to relief workers.

A mother, father and their 13-year-old daughter were killed by artillery fire on Monday night while sleeping at home in Pisi Village, part of Arakan State’s Kyauktaw Township, with the Myanmar military being blamed for the shelling. 

Family members said they had not been in contact with 13 Arakanese from Haigyi Island in Ayeyarwady Region for more than a month, after they were arrested on suspicion of having links to the Arakan Army (AA).

The Arakan Students Union has objected to changes recently made by Myanmar’s military regime to the National Education Law, which set Burmese as the official language of the country’s classrooms.

Locals from at least four villages in northern Maungdaw Township, Arakan State, have reported that wild elephants are devouring and damaging their paddy fields.

Women living at camps for internally displaced people (IDPs) in Arakan State are reportedly in need of contraceptive pills and sanitary pads.

Arakan State’s agriculture industry has suffered significant setbacks this year, including an anticipated drop in the state’s rice production, making it necessary to take special care to ensure domestic food security, according to an official from the Arakan Farmers’ Union.

A Grade 10 student was injured when an artillery shell landed and exploded in Hsinmakyaw Village, part of Arakan State’s Kyauktaw Township, on October 29, according to the village administrator.

Six elderly men were abducted by the military in Maungdaw Township, Arakan State, at about 2 p.m. on Saturday, according to local residents.