Count Mrauk-U’s bid to become a UNESCO World Heritage Site as being among the multitude of matters put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The number of Myanmar nationals returning from China to their homes in Arakan State amid the coronavirus pandemic surpassed 3,500 on May 25, according to the Arakan State Department of Disaster Management.

The University of Community Health Alumni Association on May 24 called for the immediate release of a village healthcare worker allegedly detained by the Arakan Army (AA) in Rathedaung Township earlier this month.

A ward administrator was stabbed to death by four masked assailants in the Arakan State capital Sittwe on the morning of May 25.

Two villagers from Kan Thit village in Ponnagyun Township were seriously injured by a pair of landmine blasts on May 24, according to U Kan Tun Aung, a 10-household head from the village. 

Twenty-six people from Ann Township, Arakan State, who had been detained by the Tatmadaw for about a week were released on May 23. 

The Arakan State government has been arranging to facilitate the transportation of civilians who are seriously wounded in war, State Minister for Security and Border Affairs Colonel Min Than said on May 21. 

Less than two weeks after video of five men being beaten by Tatmadaw soldiers went viral online, the victims of the “unlawful interrogations” appeared before the Sittwe District Court on May 22 and were arraigned on terrorism charges, lawyer U Kyaw Nyunt Maung told DMG.

Five men from Taungup Township’s Sar Pyin village, including the chair of the Arakan National Party’s local chapter, appeared before the Taungup Township Court on May 22, but their hearing was rescheduled for June 5 because the plaintiff was a no-show, said lawyer U Tin Nyo.

As fighting in Arakan State between the Tatmadaw and the Arakan Army (AA) has intensified, both national and foreign journalists are facing increasing challenges in obtaining information to report on the state’s affairs.

The last day to repay the previous monsoon season’s agricultural loans in Arakan State has been deferred to May 31 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a second extension of the original April 15 repayment date, said U Pyone Naing, manager of the Myanmar Agricultural Development Bank in Manaung Township.

Arakan State’s Nantha Island and Mayyu Estuary were designated as a Ramsar wetland site on May 22, coinciding with International Day for Biological Diversity.

The onset of the southwest monsoon is due in the coming days, ushered in by Cyclone Amphan, according to the Department of Meteorology and Hydrology.

Myanmar authorities interdicted two watercrafts carrying more than 130 tonnes of illegal timber on May 18, with 11 people on board the vessels arrested by the Danyawady Naval Force based in Maungdaw town, Arakan State. 

More than 800 IDPs who had been sheltering in Rathedaung town are returning to their homes in Kyauktan village to cultivate farmlands, and were spurred to leave the displacement camp in part out of fear that crowded conditions there left it susceptible to COVID-19 contagion.

Five people including 100-household heads from Khabaw and Marlar (Mro) villages in Kyauktaw Township were released on May 19, one day after being abducted, according to a 100-household head from Khabaw village. 

Four out of 20 people believed to have been detained by authorities this week in Ann Township were released on May 20, according to their family members.

The Union Election Commission on May 18 announced the termination of Dr. Aye Maung’s status as a Pyithu Hluttaw lawmaker for Arakan State’s Ann Township and declared him ineligible to contest future elections, citing his 2019 conviction on high treason and incitement charges. 

The Committee for Scrutinizing Confiscated Farmlands and Other Land will meet with relevant departments in order to conduct a field inspection of confiscated farmland near Set Yoe Kya village in Sittwe Township, Deputy Minister for Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation U Hla Kyaw told the Amyotha Hluttaw on May 18.