Political parties based in Arakan State will meet with the Union Election Commission (UEC) on June 27 ahead of Myanmar’s general election, with the nationwide vote expected in November.

With Myanmar’s general election slated for November, the Tatmadaw is pledging its full backing and security assistance, Brigadier-General Zaw Min Tun said at a news conference on June 22 in Nay Pyi Taw.

Police have filed a case against a leading member of the Ramree Township Youth Network who was among a group of activists over the weekend calling on the government to lift its long-running internet ban in Myanmar’s west, according to the network.

One of five Muslim men known to have entered Arakan State illegally from Bangladesh was reported in Maungdaw Township on June 21 and the other four are being sought by authorities, according to U Soe Aung, deputy commissioner of Maungdaw District.

A 13-year-old who sold snacks in Sittwe was found unresponsive with a head injury on June 19 and died the next day while receiving medical treatment, with the girl’s unexplained death attracting much public interest in the Arakan State capital.

More than 120 organisations called for a halt to military offensives on June 20, commemorated globally as World Refugee Day, demanding an end to armed conflict so that war refugees might return home. 

Fifty-four people who had been trapped by fighting near Sauk Khat village in Arakan State’s Rathedaung Township for 12 days were rescued on June 20, according to the rescuers.

Seating arrangements on board ferries transporting passengers between the Arakan State capital Sittwe and its outlying townships are under scrutiny in the age of coronavirus.

Seventy-eight organisations including political parties, civil society groups and media outlets have sent an open letter to Myanmar’s president and state counsellor requesting that they lift the one-year-old internet ban imposed in seven Arakan State townships and Chin State’s Paletwa Township. 

Security personnel are suspected of helping to transport people who recently entered northern Arakan State illegally from Bangladesh, according to presidential spokesperson U Zaw Htay.

Farmers in Arakan State are expressing concern about their ability to safely grow crops in war-torn parts of the state, as regular clashes continue to kill, injure and displace civilians.

A woman was injured when a passenger bus was reportedly sprayed by bullets on the Yangon-Sittwe road near Kyauk Seik village in Ponnagyun Township on June 19, according to residents. 

Election preparations are proceeding as planned ahead of the 2020 vote in Arakan State, where ongoing conflict has raised doubts about the feasibility of holding the polls in just a few months’ time.

A village-tract clerk of the Kyaukphyu Township General Administration Department in Arakan State was found dead this week and is believed to have been murdered, according to the township’s police force.

An investigation has been launched to root out those responsible for sending people in Bangladesh across the border illegally into northern Arakan State, according to the Maungdaw District administrator.

Internally displaced people in Arakan State are getting an early dose of monsoon season misery as recent heavy rains have flooded some IDP camps.

A couple from Shwe Kyinpyin village in Arakan State’s Mrauk-U Township disappeared three days ago and have not been heard from since, according to residents.

The COVID-19 pandemic is confounding proposed peace talks between government negotiators and representatives of the Northern Alliance, a coalition of four ethnic armed groups including the Arakan Army, according to the Kachin Peace-talk Creation Group (PCG).

Nuns in Sittwe are feeling the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in their alms bowls, with donations dipping in recent months as economic uncertainty and fear of viral transmission keep doors shut and pocketbooks in pockets.