Some contestants for the beauty pageant were coming from conflict affected areas, so their journey could be problematic, consequently, the organizer of the Miss Universe Sittwe 2019 decided to call off the event,

“The Tatmadaw bears the main responsibility for security and protection, and we work on governing. So, it is hard for us to instruct the Tatmadaw how to handle certain situations.

A guest-house opened on the Yangon-Mandalay highway on 2 July. Travelers can stay overnight for free if they get tired from traveling long distances.

Arakan State has the second lowest number of reported rape cases among all states and regions, the Rakhine Women’s Committee said on Myanmar Women’s Day, which fell on July 3.

“It is meaningless that people were killed just because they were suspects and they were not protected by the rule of law. The ANP cannot accept such incidents.

“It was a terrible case. Villagers were arrested and tortured. Ko Zaw Win Hlaing died from injuries he received while soldiers beat him senseless during his interrogation. Such situations should just not happen, so we denounce that incident,”

As hostilities between the Tatmadaw and the AA keep mounting clashes continue in northern Arakan State. Recently, both sides received heavy causalities during a battle, the AA said.

In the case of 13 people from Chin Let Wa village in Chin State’s Paletwa Township, who have been charged under section 17 (1) and (2) of the Unlawful Association Act, four prosecution witnesses have been questioned

Since a Tatmadaw troop fired guns at farmers heading to their farmland in Htate Wa Pyin and Yote Chaung villages in Mrauk-U Township, local farmers are finding it difficult to grow paddy according to villagers.

Torrential rainfall in Arakan State has produced floods in one hundred houses in Sin Baw Kaing IDP camp in Mrauk-U Township, according to relief workers.

Local residents from Kan Pyin village who returned from IDP camps in the Buthidaung downtown area to work on their village farmland have been detained for interrogation on 2 July by the Tatmadaw, said Amyotha Hluttaw MP for Buthidaung Township.

Nearly 300 acres of farmland in Pabechaung village in Kyauktaw Township cannot be cultivated to grow paddy because No.539 Light Infantry Regiment, which has been positioned near the village, prohibited farmers to do cultivation, a villager said.

The report titled “Kyaukphyu Special Economic Zone and Local People’s Future” focused on 12 points and includes the responses of political parties, CSOs, elderly people from communities, farmers, women and fishermen. 

The ongoing armed conflicts between the Tatmadaw and the AA that started since early December now occur near Yangon-Sittwe road, many public buses running between Sittwe, Kyauktaw and Mrauk-U are being affected by the skirmishes.

Due to the growing number IDPs in northern Arakan State resulting from intensified clashes between the AA and the Tatmadaw the requirements for additional food supplies has increased in IDP camps.

A local resident from Pauk Taw Pyin village in Mrauk-U Township, who had been detained and interrogated by the Tatmadaw under the suspicion of being a member of the AA, died on the evening of July 1 while he has been in intensive care at Sittwe hospital.

Four villagers from Minbya and Mrauk-U Townships have been detained by a Tatmadaw troop, detainees said at the Sittwe district court on 28 June.

“CSOs in Arakan State have to depend on Internet access to contact donors. Now, communication with the donors is really difficult, so this impacts refugees. That’s why I’d like the government to lift the ban,”

The new town project “Sittwe Myanmar City 2030” which is planned to be developed on 7000 acres of land in the capital Sittwe might cause friction with local farmers, members of parliament from Sittwe Township said.