Arakan Army (AA) forces recently captured a strategic hill camp occupied by the Burma Army in Paletwa Township during clashes, also taking 11 Tatmadaw soldiers prisoner, according to a statement by the group. The fighting occurred around five kilometers from Pyinso village in the Pee Chaung area of Paletwa in southern Chin State on the afternoon of March 9. Clashes between the groups have been ongoing since the beginning of March in Paletwa. The Burma Army’s Light Infantry Battalion 563, operating under Military Operation Command 5 based in Gwa Township in Rakhine State. According to an AA statement, the battle…
Author: Editor
By Lalnuna – A training school for midwives will be built in Hakha, Chin State, with an opening ceremony held by state government officials on Tuesday morning. The school—which claims to be the state’s first—will be built near the education college in the Chin State capital. Chin State chief minister Salai Lian Luai and social minister Pau Lum Min Thang planted the first stakes into the ground in Tuesday’s ceremony, marking the start of the school’s construction. “There was no midwifery training school in Chin State. All midwife students went to attend training in Yangon,” Pau Lum Min Thang told…
A 45-year-old Chin civilian ordered to take Burma Army troops to the front of line of fighting with the Arakan Army (AA) in southern Chin State’s Paletwa Township was killed on the spot after stepping on a landmine. The Chin Human Rights Organization (CHRO) reported that Aung Lun, from Shin Madein village, was asked on February 21 to guide soldiers from the Tatmadaw’s Light Infantry Battalion 544. Lun Bel, Aung Lun’s brother, is quoted in the CHRO report as saying that Aung Lun died at around 10:00 a.m. on February 25. “My brother was killed on the front line in…
The Arakan Army (AA) has released a policeman and a village administrator taken into their custody on February 22. Police officer Salai Beever and local administrator Char Haw were allowed to return to their village of Than Htaung in Paletwa Township on Friday. “Two pastors picked them up. They arrived at the village at around 5:00 p.m.,” a community elder told Khonumthung News. Last week, the elder said that the AA had instructed residents of Than Htaung to send representatives to pick up the detainees, who were held by the armed group for a week, following an attack on a…
As part of an initiative to improve communications for southern Chin State, the Union government has announced plans to build nine cellular towers in Kanpetlet township. Within the first three months of this year, nineteen mobile communication stations are planned with funds provided by cellular providers, said Thar Oo, deputy minister for Chin State Transportation and Communication in Chin State. There are several obstacles for implementing the mobile stations in the countryside, the deputy minister said. Roadways are poor and steep mountain ranges will make the construction difficult. In some areas, there isn’t electricity. Education, health care, economic and social…
Constituents of Mindat township wanting to know why the NLD forced Chin State vice-chairman to resign sent an open letter demanding answers. Ten civil society organizations signed the letter sent to Zaw Myint Maung, chairperson of the NLD, and Zobwi, chairperson for Chin State Parliament. Zaw Myint Maung told Aung Than to resign from his post by February 23 in a letter and warned if he didn’t voluntarily leave, he would be forced out of parliament. “If the request for his resignation was related to a failure to perform his duties as an MP we will condone it. But if…
The Arakan Army (AA) said it would release a policeman and village headman abducted during a raid by the armed group. AA forces attacked a police camp in Paletwa township in Chin State on February 22, kidnapping the police officer, Salai Beever, and Char Haw, a village administrator. An elder from Than Htaung village, where the men were abducted, told Khonumthung News the AA instructed them to send representatives to pick up the detainees. “They allowed two people from each village to pick up the detainees. Two pastors already arrived at the meeting place. There haven’t been any new updates…
More than 1,000 people participated in a march in the Sagaing Region town of Kalay on Monday supporting calls to amend Burma’s military-drafted 2008 Constitution. Those present—including National League for Democracy (NLD) party members, 88 Generation leaders, civil society representatives and other members of the public—walked from Shwe Bontha Pagoda to a statue of late independence icon Gen Aung San. According to U Ba Min, the chairperson of the ruling NLD in Kalay District, the charter must be changed in order to “build a secure and developed nation with a better future.” “It’s a good time to amend the 2008…
Enforcing a rule that ethnic groups must remain in the Union goes against the Panglong Agreement, said Pu Zin Cung, the chairman for the Chin National Front (CNF). Ethnic groups worked with the central government to form the Union of Burma after the Panglong Conference in 1947 and the right to secede was included, the chairman said during the 71st Chin National Day. “Bamar (Burmese), Shan, Kachin and Chin signed the Union agreement knowing they had these rights. Now, no-one can block these original rights to be able to secede.” The peace process faced a deadlock in the second round…
To build a genuine democratic federal union that will allow self-determination for ethnic people, U Lal Thuan Thang,Chin Affairs Minister for Sagaing region, called for the amendment of Myanmar’s 2008 Constitution. People’s participation was vital for achieving this, the minister said during a speech at the 71st Chin National Day in Kalay. “We have to cooperate to amend the 2008 constitution for political equality and building a modern democratic federal union for the future for all ethnic people.” Attempts to amend it in parliament by the ruling NLD party, led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, are…