The Arakan Army (AA) will officially reveal its policy on the crisis facing the state’s Muslim population when it can hold official talks on the international stage as the legitimate government of Arakan, the AA spokesman said during a press conference on Monday. 

The Arakan Army (AA) does not cooperate militarily with anti-regime groups under the umbrella People’s Defence Force (PDF) banner, but “it does assist in social issues,” the AA spokesman has said amid ongoing speculation about the Arakanese ethnic armed group’s place in the opposition movement.  

Locals in Arakan State have criticised Myanmar’s military regime for seizing unlicensed motorcycles in many parts of the state while the regime’s motor registration authority has suspended services to issue vehicle licences. 

Action is being taken against the perpetrators in the murder of a young woman who was stabbed to death last month near the government offices in Sittwe, Arakan State, said U Khaing Thukha, spokesperson for the Arakan Army, at an online press conference on Monday. 

Family members have called on authorities to allow them to visit inmates detained in prisons across Arakan State as many relatives say they’ve not been able to meet with their loved ones since the third wave of Covid-19 struck last year. 

Ko Kyaw Zan Wai aka Ko Yin Hsot, a man from Mrauk-U, Arakan State, who was arrested on suspicion of having ties to the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH) and National Unity Government (NUG), and was subsequently charged under Section 505(a) of the Penal Code, appeared before the district court on Monday, family members said.

The United League of Arakan (ULA) will assist in the relief aid deliveries of local and international nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) to internally displaced people (IDPs), according to the spokesman of the Arakan Army (AA), the armed wing of the ULA.

Myanmar’s military regime has deployed 9,000 to 10,000 soldiers and police in Maungdaw Township, Arakan State, where military tensions are running high, Arakan Army spokesman U Khaing Thukha said at an online press conference on Monday.

The Myanmar military and Arakan Army are accusing each other of having fired a mortar shell that landed in Bangladesh on the evening of September 16, killing a teen Muslim refugee from Myanmar and injuring six others.

Veteran Arakanese politician and former Arakan State lawmaker U Pe Than has been charged under Section 505(a) of the Penal Code and Article 66(d) of the Telecommunications Law over an interview he gave to DMG recently. 

The Myanmar military took two men from their homes in Arakan State’s Taungup Township, where military tensions are currently running high, according to locals.  

Life has become increasingly difficult for many residents of Arakan State as the Myanmar military regime’s blockading of key road and water routes has continued, in some cases for months. 

More than 2,000 residents of Kayin State’s Myawaddy Township were displaced by fighting between junta troops and the combined forces of Kayin (Karen) resistance groups on September 15 and 16.

Hundreds of local people from Tamarkhaw Village in Mone Township, Bago Region, who were forcibly evicted from their village by Myanmar’s military regime, are in urgent need of food, shelter and clothes, according to local civil society organisations.

The township administrator has instructed internally displaced people (IDPs) who are currently sheltering in downtown Paletwa to return home next month, and a list is being collected as to whether they want to return home or not.

Traditional zat pwe artists and troupe owners in Arakan State, who have been preparing to return to the stage next month, now worry that a series of recent clashes between Myanmar’s military regime and the Arakan Army threaten to derail those plans.

Increasing numbers of young people in Mon State, both from rural and urban areas, are leaving military-ruled Myanmar to work abroad, according to local residents and overseas employment agencies.

Local residents of Aung Mingalar Village in northern Maungdaw Township, Arakan State, felt compelled to flee their homes after a large number of junta soldiers and border guard police searched their village on Friday afternoon. 

Myanmar’s military regime has barred local and international nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) from travelling to multiple townships in Arakan State following the renewed fighting between junta troops and the Arakan Army (AA) over recent weeks.