Phoenix Restaurant, on Athawka Road in Yangon’s Tamway Township, had been closed for a week prior to January 9, when anti-money laundering authorities, police officers and officials from the Bureau of Special Investigation descended on the eatery to seal off the premises.

Farmers who grow winter vegetables in Maungdaw Township, northern Arakan State, say they are losing money because they don’t have any government support and labor costs have increased.

Hostilities in 2015 between the Tatmadaw and the AA began in Paletwa Township, Chin State, and then also spilled over into Ponnagyun Township, Arakan State, which initially saw an intensified conflict that has since subsided.

“In the short term, you will be drifted along in the armed conflicts, driven by your swollen pride, hatred and prejudices. But in the long run, what has been sacrificed behind the scenes of smoke and gunfire is the lives of our national races, the regions where they had been settled,”

Hostilities erupted on the evening of December 30 in Kyauktaw town, during which the roof of the institute was blown off and its staff hall and restrooms were damaged by artillery shell fire. Since then, the school has been shuttered.

Arakan State Chief Minister U Nyi Pu met internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Sittwe on January 6 and encouraged them to speak up about their needs, promising that he would see to it that the necessary assistance is provided.

An explosion that killed four schoolchildren and injured six others this week near Htate Htoo Pauk village in Buthidaung Township, Arakan State, was due to an artillery shell and not a landmine, the students’ teacher Ali Zuhar, who was also injured in the blast, told DMG.

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) has ended its “Tat Lan” sustainable food and livelihoods program in Arakan State after five years, shutting down the aid initiative a year earlier than planned as the committee cited a lack of cooperation from the state government.

Four students were killed and five others were injured, along with their tutor, by an explosion near Htate Htoo Pauk (Muslim) village in Buthidaung Township, northern Arakan State, at around 10 a.m. on January 7, a village leader told DMG.

Petition signatures are being collected to demand the immediate restoration of internet access in four Arakan State townships where residents have been denied connectivity for more than six months.

Young people in Mrauk-U district have rejected an offer of the Arakan State Youth Affairs Committee to join its district committee because they do not trust the latter’s policy and the district-level committee is centralized, the Mrauk-U Youth Association (MUYA) said in a statement released on January 5.

U Than Hla, secretary of Sein Pyar environment preservation group, said that although civil society organizations like his clean the streets frequently, people still litter and the city’s main street, Shu Khin Thar Road, is a mess of plastic bags, empty bottles and leftover food.

The Myanmar Teachers’ Federation says it won’t assist in the upcoming 2020 election if the government does not backtrack on plans to increase the length of the academic year at basic education schools, leveling its ultimatum in a statement released on January 5.

The explosion of a landmine near the village was followed by gunfire and an artillery shell landed in the village, wounding Ma Oo Win Aye, 20, who was having dinner at her home, said U Kyaw Nyunt Tin.

President U Win Myint urged all national races to unite and participate in efforts to build a peaceful, democratic federal union and to amend the Constitution, in a message marking the 72nd anniversary of Myanmar’s independence on January 4.

The commander-in-chief of the Defence Services, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, said the Tatmadaw has resorted to addressing problems via military means because the leaders of some ethnic armed groups are not sufficiently committed to peace.

The Arakan Army (AA) has said that there were at least 681 clashes lasting longer than 30 minutes between its forces and the Tatmadaw in Arakan State last year.

Travellers are increasingly opting for waterways over land routes as they make their way around Arakan State, where active armed conflict and tightened security have made overland options less appealing, according to manager of Shwe Pyi Tan Express Boat Service in Sittwe.

Two police officers from the Thazinmyaing Border Guard outpost in Buthidaung Township, Arakan State, have been detained by the Arakan Army (AA), according to a January 4 statement from the ethnic armed group, which alleged that the two men were found in possession of yaba tablets at the time of their arrest.