The Arakan (Rakhine) Cultural Preservation Committee this year will not be holding the traditional Thingyan festivities that it has previously organized in Sittwe due to clashes in several Arakan State townships over recent months.

The Arakan National Party (ANP) has accepted an offer from the Arakan League for Democracy (ALD) to discuss “the current Arakan political situation”, according to an ALD representative.

A village administrator and a resident of Nayan village in Minbya Township, Arakan State, are missing and have been incommunicado for days, with family members concerned for their whereabouts and well-being.

One man was killed and two people were injured in Bwi Ohne village after they were hit by artillery fire and bombs amid heavy fighting near the Mee Chaung bridge in Paletwa Township, Chin State, locals said.

Two “suspect” Muslims were shot dead by Tatmadaw troops after the pair responded to calls for them to submit to inspection by firing upon the soldiers near Taungpyo village in Arakan State’s Maungdaw Township, the military reported on March 3.

The Arakan National Party has instructed a Yangon Region minister from the party who met Myanmar’s commander-in-chief last month to submit a letter to the party elaborating on their recent discussion, but the party does not plan to discipline him, an ANP official has said.

A 29-year-old patient who had been kept under surveillance and is receiving treatment at Sittwe General Hospital in the Arakan State capital has been found to be suffering from pneumonia, according to the hospital’s superintendent, Dr. Moe Myint Win.

Fourteen male suspects have been arrested after fighting occurred near Myaung Bway village in Mrauk-U Township, Arakan State, according to a March 3 statement issued by the Office of the Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Services.

Arrangements have been made to allow 54 students sheltering in Buthidaung town’s IDP camps to sit for matriculation exams this year, according to officials at those camps in northern Arakan State.

An artillery shell blast in Kyauktaw Township’s Shwe Pyi village on March 2 seriously wounded a woman there, according to the victim’s family.

The Kaman National Progressive Party plans to speak with Union Minister for Ethnic Affairs Nai Thet Lwin in Nay Pyi Taw on March 5, seeking to get his backing for the designation of a “Kaman National Day,” the KNPP secretary told DMG.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) released a statement on March 2 urging the Myanmar government to allow anyone injured by conflict in Arakan State to travel freely in order to receive medical treatment, as conflict continues to plague the region.

Three people, including an 80-year-old woman and a 10-year-old boy, were injured on March 3 in Arakan State when an artillery shell exploded in Pyaing Taing village, Kyauktaw Township, according to local villagers.

The Myanmar National Human Rights Commission (MNHRC) has opened a branch office in the Arakan State capital Sittwe to facilitate reporting for anyone who has suffered human rights violations in the region.

The Arakan National Party (ANP), Arakan State’s dominant ethnic political party, aims to stand for elections in other regions and states if the 2020 poll cannot be held in war-torn parts of Myanmar’s westernmost state, ANP Secretary U Khaing Pyi Soe told DMG.

The Rakhine Ethnics Congress (REC) has released updated figures for the number of internally displaced people (IDPs) in Arakan State, with the new data showing the IDP tally to have surpassed 128,000.

The bodies of three men out of 13 people who went missing after fighting took place near Myaung Bway village in Mrauk-U Township, Arakan State, were found on March 2, locals said.

Regional election commission members last week held a two-day workshop on potential security challenges if the 2020 election is held in conflict-affected areas of Arakan State.

Three civilians were killed and eight others were injured by artillery and small arms fire as two villages in Mrauk-U Township, Arakan State, were the latest to suffer from spillover of the ongoing conflict between the Tatmadaw and Arakan Army on February 29.