Women’s rights activists in Arakan State called for equal rights for women and the elimination of violence and discrimination against women on Tuesday as the world observed International Women’s Day.

A total of 230 offshore fishing vessels operating in coastal Arakan State are equipped with vessel monitoring systems (VMS) and are being tracked by government officials via monitoring centres, according to the state’s Department of Fisheries.

Arakan State is gaining an additional two districts, according to a spokesman for the state’s military government, U Hla Thein, who told reporters on March 8 that Ann and Taungup would be elevated to district-level jurisdictions.

Rural people from Thaing Chaung village-tract in Arakan State’s Kyaukphyu Township want access to water from the Thaing Chaung Dam to prevent water shortages over the summer months.

Nandar Wun Park, near the village of Kyar Ma Thauk in Sittwe Township, will be leased to the private sector and turned into a recreational space for the public, Arakan State military council member U Than Tun told DMG.

Local social organisations are providing education to illiterate children and the elderly in Ahnyit village in Thandwe Township, Arakan State, where Asho Chin people live.

The junta-controlled Ministry of Electricity and Energy said on Sunday that a new gas-fired power plant with a capacity of 150 megawatts (MW) in Arakan State’s Kyaukphyu Township is set to run at full capacity by June, supplying the national grid.

Fresh clashes erupted on March 7 between Myanmar junta forces and the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), the armed wing of the Karen National Union (KNU), after junta troops entered KNU territory.

The junta-controlled Ministry of Immigration and Population has imposed new travel restrictions, making national registration cards (NRCs), also known as citizenship scrutiny cards, necessary for travel as of April 1.

Soil tests are being carried out in order to build a reservoir between Ohntaw and Pyaine Si Kay villages in Arakan State’s Kyaukphyu Township as part of efforts to supply more water to townspeople, according to concerned officials.

Arakan Army (AA) spokesman U Khaing Thukha has heaped praise on the People’s Defense Force (PDF) units fighting against the Myanmar junta.

The Arakan Army (AA) has no plan to hold political talks with the Myanmar junta because the military regime is not an elected government, said the ethnic armed group’s spokesman U Khaing Thukha.

A young man from Arakan State’s Thandwe town was sentenced to more than a year in prison for participating in a protest against the military dictatorship, according to family members.

More than 20,000 locals in areas controlled by Brigade 1 of the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), the armed wing of the Karen National Union (KNU), in Kayin State have been displaced by fighting there since February, sources told DMG.

Negotiations are underway through the Myanmar military and intermediaries for the release of those arrested on suspicion of having links with the Arakan Army (AA), the ethnic armed group’s spokesman U Khaing Thukha said at a press conference Saturday.

The United League of Arakan (ULA), the political wing of the Arakan Army (AA), said it is carefully handling a series of criminal cases in Arakan State that made headlines late last year, and which the ethnic armed group at the time characterised as a potential attempt to foment sectarian strife.

The young writer Ko Aung Naing Myint aka Ko Min Di Par, from Pan Maw village in Mrauk-U Township, was sentenced to 10 years in prison with labour by the Maruk-U District Court on February 25 for violating the Counter-Terrorism Law.

Rising global oil prices in the wake of the Ukraine-Russia military conflict have also pushed up domestic fuel prices in Myanmar, with the grassroots particularly hard-hit as a result.

The Arakan State Agriculture Department is planning to expand cultivation of oil crops in some townships for local oil sufficiency, the deputy director of the department Daw Hla Theingi told DMG.