About 20 schools have been temporarily shuttered in Arakan State’s Minbya Township due to recent clashes between the Tatmadaw and the Arakan Army (AA), according to members of the education communities in the township.

President U Win Myint used the occasion of Arakan State Day last week to urge the people of Myanmar’s troubled westernmost state to do their part to bring about the stability that will allow the region to realize its development potential.

The Arakan National Party says poll organizers should negotiate with the Arakan Army (AA) to hold elections in conflict-torn Arakan State ahead of the 2020 nationwide vote, but the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) is arguing that such talks would not be appropriate given the current political climate.

More than 2000 Muslims in Buthidaung Township, Arakan State, have been affected by the ongoing fighting between the Tatmadaw and Arakan Army, Buthidaung Township administrator U Shwe Hla Aung told the DMG.

Since hostilities between the Tatmadaw and Arakan Army have intensified in Myebon Township, the number of internally displace people has increased.

More than 1000 villagers have fled from their homes since a military column has entered Thaung Dra village in Rathedaung Township on 14 December, according to local sources.

The Executive Committee of the National League for Democracy (NLD) in Arakan State released a statement on 16 December, demanding to immediately release of U Ye Thein, the chair of NLD for Buthidaung Township.

The ongoing armed conflict claimed five civilians and hurt 19 others between 8 and 14 December. Another 10 people have been detained during that period. Fierce clashes broke out in Minbya and Myebon Townships and a police station was attacked.

Standard security restrictions are affecting the daily situation of civilians, regardless of their background due to ongoing clashes between the Arakan Army, which seeks autonomy or independence for Arakan State and the Tatmadaw, said State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

After village administrator of Phone Thar Wa village tract in Minbya Township was shot and killed by a Tatmadaw column on 11 December night, other village administrators are concerned for their safety and want to resign.

The body of Kyaukmaw village administrator U Kyaw Aye Maung, who was abducted by the Tatmadaw, was found at the bottom of Mt. Minbu, west of Thalu Chaung village, in the afternoon on 14 December at about 4 p.m., according to family members.

“The Arakan Army (AA) seeks autonomy or independence for Arakan State, as it was called—finding inspiration in the memory of the historic Kingdom of Arakan,” the State Counsellor said on 11 December.

The Tatmadaw accuses the detained villager of having connection with Arakan Army (AA), but local residents say that he is a person with a mental illness.

Artillery shells launched by a Tatmadaw troop positioned at a pagoda located 0.8 kilometers east of the village landed on Sinthaybyin Muslim village in Buthidaung Township on the morning of 14 December.

Families of victims made a complaint to the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission to investigate the death of a village administrator and a female villager from Satetara village, Minbya township in Arakan State.

Eleven more Muslims have returned of their own accord to Maungdaw Township, Arakan State from Bangladesh on 11 December, according to a source from the Taungpyo Letway Reception Center.

Mine blast in Kyaukphyu, where China’s projects are existing, during ongoing fighting between the Tatmadaw and the AA is an unusual.

The Arakan Army (AA) raided a police station in Yoetayoke village of Ponnagyun Township in Arakan State at about 6 p.m. on 11 December, Khaing Thu Kha, spokesperson of the AA, told the DMG.

A 42-year old village administrator in Minbya Township, Arakan State, died of injuries after he was struck with a rifle butt by some members of a military troop and a mother was killed by bullet wound on the night of 11 December, family members told the DMG.