Family members say they have not been in contact with three men in Arakan State’s Ponnagyun and Kyauktaw townships since their arrests by the Myanmar military more than a week ago. 

The Arakan State Health Department is strictly enforcing Covid-19 rules and regulations at border trade camps in the state, according to officials from the department.

The Three Brotherhood Alliance — the Arakan Army, Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) — in a statement on July 27 strongly condemned the recent executions of four political dissidents.

Cottage hospitals in Arakan State’s Mrauk-U, Ramree and Rathedaung townships have been devoid of doctors for nearly two years, locals complain. 

More than 4,000 locals in Kyaikto Township, Mon State, have been fleeing since July 9 due to artillery shellings by junta troops, and the displaced people are in need of food, medicine, and shelter, according to aid workers.

The residents of northern Maungdaw Township are facing difficulties obtaining food supplies as the regime has imposed travel restrictions on international and local nongovernmental organisations working in Maungdaw and other Arakan State townships.

Local residents in Rathedaung Township, Arakan State, who fled their homes following the deployment of junta troops near their villages, say they still dare not return to their homes. 

Maramagyi representatives from across Myanmar met over the weekend in Kyaukphyu Township, Arakan State, to discuss writing a historical monograph on the culture and literature of the Maramagyi people, who are considered a tribe of the Arakanese ethnic group.

Some ethnic armed organisations (EAOs) will likely attend a second round of peace talks invited by Myanmar’s military junta, the regime spokesman said at a press conference in Naypyidaw on Tuesday. 

Junta spokesman Major General Zaw Min Tun has called the Arakan Army (AA) attack on junta troops last week in Arakan State’s Maungdaw Township a provocation.

The Arakan State Education Department has been administering second Covid-19 shots to students in the 5-12 age group since July 2, and 174,214 students had received their second doses as of July 24.

Farmers in northern Arakan State townships such as Ponnagyun, Kyauktaw, Mrauk-U, Minbya, Rathedaung, Buthidaung and Maungdaw are having trouble growing paddy due to a lack of rainfall this year. 

The Interim Khumi Affairs Coordination Council (IKACC) on July 24 issued an appeal to local residents living in Paletwa Township, Chin State, urging them not to cooperate with the military regime and its subordinate organisations.

Despite rising military tensions in Arakan State, Myanmar’s military regime may not risk a return to full-scale war in Arakan State, according to political observers. 

Seven out of 15 residents of Kyaukphyu Township’s Sanae town who were arrested after men in plainclothes abducted a police officer at a local market on July 24 were released on Monday, while the eight others were reportedly sent to Kyaukphyu town. 

It has been a week since Myanmar’s military regime deployed troops at a Buddhist monastery in Rathedaung Township, according to locals and internally displaced people (IDPs). 

The Arakan Army (AA) has joined a growing chorus of condemnation for the junta’s recent execution of four men including prominent 88 Generation student leader Ko Jimmy and former National League for Democracy (NLD) lawmaker Ko Phyo Zeya Thaw.

Internally displaced people (IDPs) at a camp in a Ponnagyun Township industrial zone say there has been a shortage of rice at the camp for almost two months. 

Three men in plainclothes abducted a police officer at a local bazaar in Sanae town, part of Arakan State’s Kyaukphyu Township, at about 7:30 a.m. on Sunday, according to eyewitnesses.