Internally displaced persons (IDPs) in southern Chin State’s Paletwa Township say that they are in need of COVID-19 protective equipment, including face masks. COVID-19 infections are on the rise in Burma, with the Ministry of Health and Sports reporting 3,636 cases of the virus on Wednesday, along with 39 total deaths and 832 recoveries. “The IDPs do not have enough face masks. We can only provide two masks per person in IDP camps, so it’s difficult to wear these all the time,” Zarni, who is helping the Paletwa IDPs, told Khonumthung News. “We have run out of face masks, so…
Author: Editor
The Chin State government doesn’t plan to halt bus operations, social welfare minister Pau Lum Min Thang has said, even though COVID-19 cases are on the rise in Burma. He noted that the routes still operating are fewer than before. “The number of buses which come from central Burma to Chin State has gradually decreased. There is no bus operation between Hakha and other regions. Therefore, we do not need to stop bus operations in Chin State,” he told Khonumthung News. “If bus operations are stopped in central Burma, bus operations will be automatically stopped in Chin State… [But] we…
Electoral candidates have said that they have faced difficulties launching campaigns in southern Chin State’s Paletwa Township due to ongoing regional stability as clashes continue between the Burma Army and Arakan Army (AA). Soe Htet, Chin State’s current municipal minister and a National League for Democracy electoral candidate for Paletwa’s Constituency 1, said that even though he’s been able to start campaigning in downtown Paletwa and nearby villages, he’s unable to travel to communities in more remote areas of the township, such as those near the borders with Bangladesh and India. “It’s difficult to go there. The Union Election Commission…
Residents of Lay Myomyit Valley don’t have food or medicine after vital transportation routes have been shuttered as part of a partial lockdown in Rakhine State during an outbreak of coronavirus. Lwi Thawng, who lives in Ko Pe Chay village, told Khonumthung News all the roads to his village, in between Rakhine and Chin states, have been closed for five days. “We depend on Mrauk-U for food and other supplies, but now all entry and exit points are closed and we have run out of food and medicine in our area.” Over 15,000 people live in over 60 villages in…
More than 50 pregnant women suffered miscarriages in Chin State’s Paletwa Township over a period of six months, a phenomenon that medical professionals and civil society representatives say is linked to the insecurity caused by ongoing armed conflict in the region. At least 54 women were confirmed to have miscarried in the township between January and July. During this period, an offensive by the Burma Army against the Arakan Army (AA) in southern Chin State and Rakhine State also intensified. Burma News International (BNI) reported there were at least 11 clashes between the two forces in Paletwa in the first…
The Chin State government is ramping up preventative measures in response to the recent coronavirus outbreak in neighboring Rakhine State. The government said medical checkpoints will be installed at all major entry points to towns, where they will take temperatures and scrutinize citizens’ travel history. After the numbers of confirmed cases exploded in Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine State, Soe Htet, spokesperson for the Chin State government, said the government is taking immediate action to prevent an outbreak in Chin State. “When the infection rate was decreasing, people did not want to pay attention to the coronavirus. Authorities…
The Arakan Army (AA) released three of the four young Chin hostages it abducted in southern Chin State at the end of July. The ethnic armed organization (EAO) is fighting with the Burma Army in southern Chin State and Rakhine State. Ko Kyaw Aung, secretary of Chin Internally Displaced Persons Support Committee (CISC), confirmed the release of the three hostages. “I’ve talked to them. Three Chin youths were released on the morning of August 25 and they arrived in Paletwa by the evening.” AA troops abducted the four youth, who is from Nga Tharine village, located in Kyauktaw Township, on…
Eleven electoral candidates will contest the Minister of Chin Ethnic Affairs in Magwe Region, Chin State, during the upcoming 2020 general election. Soe Htut Oo, secretary of the Magwe Region Election Commission (EC), told Khonumthung News that eight electoral candidates fielded by political parties and three independent candidates are vying for the position. The candidates associated with the parties are Maung Lwin, United Democratic Party; Aye Tun Min, Chin Ethnics Party; Than Htay (aka Garbe), Union Solidarity and Development Party; Salai Aung Min Hlaing, Asho Chin National Party; Salai Nul Cung Eh (aka Wai Lian), National Unity Party; Salai Than…
The Chin State Election Commission has not dismissed any candidates that registered to run in the general election on November 8, citing all as meeting the necessary qualifying criteria. A total of 212 candidates initially registered and two withdrew, leaving a total of 210 candidates. The state’s election commission concluded that all were qualified. “We have already finished the checking process. All registered electoral candidates are qualified,” Lin Kyaw, secretary of the Chin State Election Commission, told Khonumthung News. Political parties and individual candidates registered on July 25, and the election commission scrutinized their applications between August 11 and 17.…
After nearly a third of voters checked their personal information on the Chin State voter list, some 30,000 people applied to correct their personal information on the state’s voter list, add their names, or remove the names of the deceased, according to the state’s election commission. More than 1,440 people have requested that they be added as eligible voters and more than 12,640 have asked that someone be removed, typically in the case of death. Some 16,000 people have asked that their name or identification number be corrected. The discrepancies date back to a collection of names by the General…