Civil society organisations (CSOs) in Arakan State have called for systematic monitoring of entries and departures at the country’s westernmost borders in response to alarming rates of recent coronavirus infection and related fatalities in neighbouring India and Bangladesh. 

Ethnic Mro displaced people have also faced food shortages like other internally displaced people (IDPs) in Arakan State, said IDP camp managers. 

Basic education schools across Myanmar will accept enrolment as of May 24, said Arakan State education officer U Tin Thein. 

With the houses affected by a large fire at Tin Nyo IDP camp in March having been rebuilt by donors, a new school will be built for IDP children, said the author Wai Hun Aung, who is providing help for the camp. 

A displacement camp opened at a Buddhist monastery in Sittwe’s Setyonesu ward is facing a severe water shortage and in urgent need of water supplies. 

At least 10 people were injured and one person was killed in a traffic accident on Wednesday evening between Thayet Cho and Aung Phyu Pyin villages in Ponnagyun Township, Arakan State, according to people who are assisting those injured. 

Closed for more than a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Cultural Museum and Buddhist Museum in the Arakan State capital Sittwe have yet to reopen to the public.

Four residents of Arakan State’s Thandwe were interrogated on May 5 over their alleged support for deposed parliamentarians of the National League for Democracy (NLD).

The Arakan Students Union (Universities – Yangon) released a statement on Tuesday urging university students in Yangon Region to boycott the education system under military rule.  

In the aftermath of the military coup, some returnees to Arakan State from Yangon are facing difficulties due to job scarcity in the state, the returnees said. 

Yangon’s Western District Court on Tuesday heard a prosecution witness in the case of the younger brother of Arakan Army (AA) chief, Major-General Twan Mrat Naing, and seven others who were arrested in 2019 and charged under Myanmar’s Counter-Terrorism Law. 

Seven of 37 ward and village administrators appointed by the military junta in Arakan State’s Ann Township have submitted resignation letters. 

A group of youths opened a free medical clinic in Kone Tan ward of the Arakan State capital Sittwe on Monday.

Thousands of people have made their way back to Arakan State from Yangon since political turmoil engulfed the commercial capital following the February 1 military coup. But pockets of Arakan State natives have stayed put, including a sizable population of ethnic Kaman who fled turmoil in Ramree Township years ago, only to face a different set of troubling circumstances in Yangon post-coup.  

Wun Paik mangrove forest, the biggest of its kind in Myanmar, has seen increased logging since the military coup in February, according to Ramree Township residents.

The State Administration Council (SAC) is collecting lists of people in order to “restructure” militia groups in Manaung Township, according to residents.

Several diplomatic missions in Myanmar called for the immediate release of all media workers detained by the military junta, as well as for an end to internet restrictions, as they marked World Press Freedom Day on May 3. 

Two villages in Thandwe Township, Arakan State, that must be relocated due to the Thahtay Chaung hydropower project are facing landslides following continuous rains over recent days, villagers said.

The Arakan State Administration Council, the state-level governing body of Myanmar’s military junta, is taking measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus from Bangladesh and India though border trade centres in Sittwe and Maungdaw.