Soldiers from the Arakan Army (AA) forcibly seized more than 150 bags of rice from a boat carrying goods and passengers on the Kaladan River in southern Chin State’s Paletwa Township on Monday. The incident occurred in Paletwa’s Tarun-ai village tract as the boat was approaching the village of Kyaelay. According to witnesses, the AA troops fired their guns several times to get the boat to stop so they could take the rice and other supplies. The motorboat was carrying rice and other foodstuffs, as well as 19 passengers, including four schoolteachers and three Christian pastors. “They tried to stop…
Author: Editor
The Chin Human Rights Organization (CHRO) is calling on the Arakan Army (AA) to release 52 Chin civilians, including 17 children, who have been held captive by the group for the past four months. According to the CHRO, AA forces entered the village of King-Talin in southern Chin State’s Paletwa Township on February 2 and forced its inhabitants to gather in the local church. They then ordered the villagers to go with them to the Bangladeshi border and beat the village headman when they resisted. All but two of the 54 villagers who were abducted at the time are still…
Civil engineering students from Kalay Technical University conducted a series of tests in and around Chin State’s Rih Lake on Thursday in an effort to assess the lake’s water quality and environmental conditions. The students’ research focused on assessing the water’s turbidity/transparency, electrical conductivity, pH balance and alkalinity, as well as its nitrite, phosphate, chlorine and iron levels. They also conducted a miniSASS test, which determines the health of a body of water based on which small organisms are present. “They came to study the water quality of the lake as a field trip to support their studies,” U Lalpeklawma,…
Most of the roughly 3,000 Chin refugees living in the Indian capital New Delhi have been issued new identification cards by the UN refugee agency UNHCR. “More than 2,800 Chin refugees have received the new card. This includes people who had the old card and others who have completed the UN’s notification interview,” Salai Cung Dawt, head of the Chin Human Rights Organization, told Khonumthung News. According to Salai Cung Dawt, UNHCR officials will decide on a case-by-case basis whether to issue new cards to those who do not yet have them. “The UNHCR is still drafting its policy for…
More than 20,000 people in Sagaing Region’s Kalay Township are facing a severe water shortage as local wells remain dry after more than a month of drought conditions, according to members of the township’s management committee. Eight remote villages in the township and four wards in Kalay town have been hit the hardest, affecting a total of 21,011 people in 4,417 households since the water shortage began late last month, official figures showed. “Township authorities have taken the lead in distributing water to these communities since April 18,” Nyi Nyi, the chairman of the Kalay Township Management Committee, told Khonumthung…
Border trade between the town of Rihkhawdar in Chin State and Aizawl in India’s Mizoram State has returned to normal after a trading association in Mizoram agreed last Friday to lift its blockade of goods from Burma. The Importer and Exporter Code Holder (IEC) Association of Mizoram had blocked imports through Burma’s No. 2 Border Trading Camp near Rihkhawdar into Zokhawthar, in Mizoram’s Champai District since May 15. Imported materials and local products from Burma are typically transported through this route to Aizawl, the capital of Mizoram State, through Zokhawthar and Champhai. These goods are then sent onwards to other…
Two civilians – an elderly man and a small child – were injured in Chin State’s Paletwa Township yesterday in the latest clashes between Burmese government forces and the Arakan Army (AA). The two victims were hit by shrapnel when troops from Burma’s government army, the Tatmadaw, opened fire on Mawng-Nama village in Nga-dak village-tract after coming under attack from the AA as they approached the village by boat on the Kaladan River at around 8:30am on Sunday. According to Mawng-Nama village resident Ba Win, his father Rang Doe, 68, and a seven-year-old child suffered injuries when the Tatmadaw fired…
Residents of Chin State’s Paletwa Township are struggling to meet their basic food needs as Burma’s government army, the Tatmadaw, tightens its control over the amount of rice that it will allow into the conflict-hit region. Citing “security reasons”, the Tatmadaw has limited each village-tract in the township to just 50 bags of rice – far less than the minimum amount required to sustain the local population. The problem is especially severe in remote areas, local sources told Khonumthung News. “There are five villages in the village-tract, so 50 bags is not nearly enough for all of them,” said Huay…
A Lower House parliamentarian for Mindat Township raised concerns this week about what he described as an unequal distribution of the state’s budget throughout the townships. On May 21, Ne Lin Aung pointed out to the legislature that Hakha, Thantlang, Matupi and Falam received a greater share of the budget than the state’s other townships, including his own. He questioned why this gap existed. Ne Lin Aung recalled the funding allocated during the 2016-2017 financial year, in which Hakha received 34 billion kyat (US$22.2 million), Matupi received 12 billion ($7.8 million), and Falam got 10 billion ($6.5 million). The following…
Steel sent by cargo ship to construct a bridge is unusable said a Chin State government spokesperson. Experts from Japan inspected the cargo twice and on the second time found it wouldn’t hold the weight for the bridge that is planned on the Kalandan River in Chin State. “At first, Japanese experts thought the steel would be usable but after testing it in a laboratory we realize it was too damaged,” Soe Htet said. The Arakan Army (AA), an armed group fighting with the Myanmar Army, torched nearly 300 tonnes of steel on the cargo ship during its voyage from…