With basic education schools open nationwide since June 1 following months shuttered due to the COVID-19 pandemic, 97% of students in Arakan State are attending classes, according to the Arakan State education office.

More than 200 children from Pauk Taw (Muslim) village in Minbya Township, Arakan State, have recovered from diarrhoea following an outbreak there, according to the Minbya Township Public Health Department. 

It will be very difficult for internally displaced people (IDPs) to stay put in the rainy season this year if the temporary tents that were built in previous years are not rebuilt in time, said managers of IDP camps in Arakan State.

The number of rape cases against children and women has increased in Arakan State, according to data from the Legal Clinic Myanmar (Arakan State). 

A Muslim man who was attempting to swim across the Naf River from Bangladesh to Myanmar was rescued by a trade boat on Tuesday morning. 

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet has warned that Tatmadaw troop buildups in Myanmar’s Chin and Kayah states, as well as other “key areas,” threaten to bring further bloodshed and a deepening humanitarian crisis.

A mother from a village of Gwa Township, Arakan State, is demanding justice for her 13-year-old daughter, who was raped last week.

Local farmers say they have not been paid compensation for farmlands that were confiscated three years ago to make way for a dam project in Pyin Kaut village-tract, part of Arakan State’s Manaung Township.

More than 100,000 people have been displaced by fighting between Tatmadaw troops and the Karenni National Defense Force (KNDF) in Kayah State since May, leaving as many as 50 dead, according to aid groups that are assisting the internally displaced (IDPs).

Skidding vehicles and traffic congestion are frequent occurrences during the monsoon season along the Minbu-Ann road, which is mostly used for transporting goods overland from other parts of Myanmar to Arakan State, according to drivers. 

A second COVID-19 case has been reported among 19 people who illegally entered Arakan State’s Maungdaw Township from Bangladesh after they were tested for the virus in recent days, according to the Maungdaw District People’s Hospital. 

Residents of Aung Zeya village in Arakan State’s Buthidaung Township have been uprooted for more than two years due to clashes between the Tatmadaw (Myanmar military) and the Arakan Army (AA) near the village in March 2019, according to locals. 

A United Nations official has said the UN country team in Myanmar “remains very concerned over continued efforts to undermine the freedom of expression and the freedom of the press through systematic imposition of restrictive policies and practices since the military took over” on February 1.

One of 19 Muslims in Maungdaw Township who entered Arakan State illegally from Bangladesh was found to have been infected with coronavirus, according to a source from the Maungdaw District People’s Hospital. 

Hundreds of onion-laden trucks are stranded at the Kanyin Chaung economic zone in Maungdaw Township, Arakan State, because there are not enough motorboats to transport their cargo to Bangladesh, where they are slated for export.

South Korea will donate US$1.3 million in humanitarian aid for Myanmar, including initiatives targeting Arakan State, through the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the World Food Programme (WFP). 

Yay Kaut and Puyit villages, which were moved because they were located in a hydropower project area in Thandwe Township, have been largely re-established elsewhere but building works have not yet finished due to financial difficulties.

The Arakan Army welcomes the release of 10 people, including the brother of AA chief Major-General Twan Mrat Naing, and will respond positively to their release, a spokesperson for the ethnic armed group told DMG. 

The deaths of four men from a bomb blast in Ponnagyun Township during the first week of June marked a grim continuation of lethal explosions in Arakan State despite a cessation of active hostilities in the region for more than seven months.