With more war refugees arriving in recent weeks at two camps for internally displaced people (IDPs) in Ann town, Arakan State, additional shelters are needed, according to managers of the camps. 

More than 400 government employees and Chin State residents have been stranded in downtown Paletwa, one of western Myanmar’s largest cities, unable to return home for the time being due to safety concerns and suspended transport routes.

Government plans to build new schooling facilities for students from IDP camps in Paletwa Township, Chin State, are being hampered by travel restrictions, according to the Chin State government.

Armed conflict in townships across Arakan State, combined with poor transportation links and restrictions on travel in the affected areas, are causing difficulties accessing healthcare services, with at times life-and-death consequences, according to healthcare workers.

Social organisations in Arakan State are facing difficulties transporting civilians wounded in conflict due to prolonged inspections at checkpoints and also report being hassled when going to IDP camps to distribute donations. 

The hardships of everyday life for tens of thousands of internally displaced people (IDPs) — worries about having adequate food, clothing, shelter, and healthcare — are such that few have the time or interest at the moment to pay much attention to the upcoming 2020 general election, IDPs say. 

About 2,000 internally displaced people are taking refuge in six government-built IDP camps in Arakan State’s Mrauk-U, Kyauktaw, Ponnagyun, Rathedaung and Buthidaung townships, according to the Rakhine Ethnics Congress.

Arakan Oil Watch (AOW) issued a report on July 8 calling on international oil corporations to suspend their projects in western Myanmar at a time of escalating conflict that the advocacy group said was being fueled by the “plunder” of the region’s natural resources.

About 400 odd-job workers are facing financial hardship after the Arakan State government suspended operations at a border trade camp in the capital Sittwe, according to the labourers. 

A 66-year-old man from Nga Tauk Tu Chay village in Rathedaung Township, Arakan State, who was severely injured when he stepped on a landmine on July 8, has died at Sittwe Hospital.

Ahead of a planned return to the classroom for high schoolers on July 21, the National Network for Education Reform (NNER) has highlighted public concerns that have arisen as coronavirus infections continue to rise in Myanmar and across the globe.

A 66-year-old man from Nga Tauk Tu Chay village in Rathedaung Township, Arakan State, was severely injured after stepping on a landmine on July 8, according to local residents.

Four people from Zin Chaung village in Arakan State’s Kyaukphyu Township were detained by a contingent of military and police personnel early Tuesday morning, with two of them released from police custody at about noon the same day, family members said. 

The number of internally displaced people (IDPs) forced from their homes by ongoing conflict between the Tatmadaw and the Arakan Army has surged by more than 34,000 in one month, according to the Rakhine Ethnics Congress (REC), which put the total IDP tally at 190,708. 

Arakan State saw the highest number of civilian deaths linked to armed conflict nationwide last year, according to the Myanmar Institute for Peace and Security (MIPS).

A young man from Chet Phaut village in Taungup Township, Arakan State, was arrested by the Tatmadaw more than a month ago, but with no information yet made available as to his circumstances, family members say they are worried about him.

A special Court of Inquiry team has been established to review events at northern Arakan State’s Chutpyin and Maung Nu villages that occurred in August 2017, when terrorist attacks by Muslim militants were met with a brutal counter-insurgency campaign. 

Clashes between government forces and ethnic armed group signatories to the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) are not of serious concern, the vice chair of the Union-level Joint Monitoring Committee (JMC-U) insisted at a committee meeting on July 7. 

Supplemental agricultural lending to help offset challenges posed by COVID-19 has begun in six Arakan State townships, but some farmers say they have not yet received the loans.