Fighting between the Myanmar military and the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) in Lay Kay Kaw town, Kayin State, has forced some 2,500 locals to flee their homes near the Thai border, with the Thai government providing humanitarian assistance, according to the Aid Alliance Committee (AAC). 

With Myanmar’s political turmoil leading to a bearish construction sector across much of the country, migrant workers with building experience are finding employment at construction sites in the relative stability of Arakan State. 

Training in mushroom cultivation is being provided at IDP camps in the Arakan State capital Sittwe and other townships in the state in hopes that these displaced populations can eventually run their own mushroom-growing businesses. 

The young author Min Di Par from Pan Maw village in Mrauk-U Township, Arakan State, who has been charged under Myanmar’s Counter-Terrorism Law, appeared again in court on December 16. 

Several junta soldiers were killed and wounded, while others were taken as prisoners of war after the Myanmar military clashed with Karen National Union (KNU) forces in the town of Lay Kay Kaw, Kayin State, on December 15, with hostilities reportedly continuing on Thursday. 

The Arakan State High Court on Thursday reduced by six months the prison terms of four students who were sentenced to a total of 2.5 years behind bars over an unlawful protest in October 2020, according to the defendants’ lawyer. 

Danyawadi Stadium in Sittwe is being upgraded to a state-of-the-art facility at a cost of K1 billion and the project is about 80% completed, according to U Pyae Phyo Lin, managing director of Coral Akyab Group Company.

Clashes were reported on Wednesday morning between the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) and junta forces in the town of Lay Kay Kaw, Kayin State, after weeks of rising tensions in the area.

Truck drivers and merchants are facing difficulties due to stricter inspections at a security checkpoint on the Yangon-Sittwe highway in Ann Township, Arakan State. 

 Joint teams including military and police personnel, along with civil society organisations, will undertake patrols in Sittwe amid reports of a rise in thefts and other criminality in the Arakan State capital. 

Residents and the Sai Din Waterfall Youth Charity Association say the local ecosystem needs to be properly conserved to prevent its destruction as the Sai Din Waterfall in Buthidaung Township, Arakan State, increasingly attracts visitors and holidaymakers.

The Network for Human Rights Documentation Burma (ND-Burma) released a report on Tuesday calling on Myanmar’s military regime to take responsibility for human rights violations in the country. 

The plaintiff and prosecution witnesses in the case of Ko Aung Win Naing, chair of the Moe Pyinnyar Dana Philanthropic Association in Arakan State’s Taungup town, who was charged under Section 17(1) of the Unlawful Associations Act, have all been examined, so it will be decided at the next court hearing whether the charges should be filed or not, according to a lawyer involved in the case.

Ko Min Ko Oo, chairman of the Youth Network in Taungup Township, Arakan State, was taken away in a car by seven men in civilian clothes at about 9 a.m. on December 14, according to family members. 

More than 200 soldiers reportedly raided Lay Kay Kaw town, territory of the Karen National Union located south of Myawaddy town in Kayin State, on December 14, arresting a former MP and civil servants who have joined the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM). 

Soldiers and policemen remained stationed along the mountain road to Sandawshin Pagoda in Pauktaw Township, Arakan State, as of December 13, despite their road repair work being completed, locals and pilgrims said. 

Myanmar’s military junta forcibly arrested youths from townships in Yangon, Bago, Mandalay and Magway regions, and Mon State, in the first week of December. 

Healthcare workers who have participated in the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) will be fined K5 million or K10 million if they do not return to work and will be prosecuted under Section 505(a) of the Penal Code if they support the National Unity Government (NUG), according to an order issued by the junta-controlled Ministry of Health. 

A free school for impoverished matriculation students who have not yet attended school was opened in Gananpyin village, in Arakan State’s Ponnagyun Township, on December 13.