The Union Election Commission (UEC) on Wednesday announced that Myanmar’s 2020 general election will take place on November 8.

The families of two people from Shwepyi village in Kyauktaw Township who died in military custody are pushing back against news coverage of their deaths that posited that they succumbed to illness while detained. 

Two brothers from Phar Pyo village in Arakan State’s Minbya Township are believed to have been detained by a local military contingent and have not been heard from in more than four months, family members said.

The Democracy and Human Rights Party has called on the Union Election Commission (UEC) to enable Muslims in northern Arakan State to cast their votes in Myanmar’s upcoming general election.

Women who have sought refuge in the Arakan State capital Sittwe, amid conflict elsewhere in the region, are facing livelihood difficulties and say they want more opportunities to work and generate income for their families.

Twenty-nine people who are alleged to have illegally crossed the Bangladesh-Myanmar border into Arakan State’s Maungdaw District are facing legal action under the Immigration Law, according to U Htein Linn, deputy director of the Department of Immigration and Population.

Four people including the chairperson of the Taungup Township Development Affairs Committee and the vice chair of the township’s Arakan National Party (ANP) chapter were arraigned under Myanmar’s Counter-Terrorism Law on June 30.

Four people were killed on Monday in a landmine explosion near Tayaba village in conflict-plagued Arakan State’s Taungup Township. 

The military will release three out of five people detained last month in Kyauktaw Township, Arakan State, and plans to take action against the other two under Myanmar’s Counter-Terrorism Law and Export Import Law, according to the Tatmadaw True News Information Team.

A police sergeant was reportedly stabbed to death by two unidentified men in the Arakan State capital Sittwe on June 29.  

Some displacement camps in Arakan State’s Mrauk-U, Kyauktaw and Myebon townships are lacking adequate toilet facilities, with IDPs concerned about potential health consequences.

More than 100 residents of Kat Thabyay village in Arakan State’s Kyaukphyu Township have reportedly sought refuge at a monastery in downtown Kyaukphyu after nine Kat Thabyay villagers were recently arrested by the Tatmadaw.

The Union Election Commission (UEC) said it would announce whether the 2020 election will be held across conflict-plagued Arakan State after reviewing the security situation, according to representatives from political parties who recently met with the Commission.

A resident of Nat Taung village in Ponnagyun Township, Arakan State, died of a gunshot wound on the morning of June 29, according to locals.

Ethnic political parties are concerned that the 2020 election may not be held in ethnic areas where armed conflict is ongoing.

The swab tests of 13 people who had close contact with a man who tested positive for COVID-19 last week in Sittwe have come back negative, according to the Department of Public Health in Arakan State.

Residents of Pain Nae Daw village in Arakan State’s Ponnagyun Township are not being allowed to venture outside the village and are facing risk of food shortages as a result.

Two civilians were killed and three others were injured on June 26 when artillery shells believed to have been fired by the Tatmadaw landed in Nat Maw village, Ann Township, according to residents.   

A young woman from Sa Nyin village in Myebon Township, Arakan State, lost one of her legs after stepping on a landmine on June 27, according to residents.