The Khonumthung News talked with Khine Thukha, spokesperson for the Arakan Army (AA), about the food crisis affecting Paletwa township in southern Chin State. Residents are struggling amidst a severe food shortage after supply lines have been cut off from fighting between the AA and Burma Army for over a month. Prices of rice and other essential rations available in the township have become exorbitant. The state government and community groups are trying to get the rations to the famished township but fighting that has intensified in recent weeks have hindered these efforts. With the Kalandan river route from Kyauktaw…
Author: Editor
The Rih border crossing in Chin State is still open but authorities aren’t taking any chances and started checking all travellers coming from India’s Mizoram State for symptoms of COVID-19, recently declared a pandemic by the World Health Organisation (WHO). The Rih to Zohkawdar bridge is the last border crossing open on the Chin-Mizo border. District judge Mr S. L. Naveen closed all the other checkpoints in Champhai district in Mizoram on Tuesday to curb the spread of the virus that has infected over 100,000 in over 100 countries, according to WHO. So far, Burma hasn’t confirmed a single case…
When Snr Gen Min Aung Hlaing, commander in chief of the Burma Army, paid a special visit to Hakha on Wednesday, Chin elders demanded the army chief do something about the food crisis affecting Paletwa township in southern Chin State. Conflict between the Burma Army and the Arakan Army in southern Chin and northern Rakhine states has intensified in recent weeks, cutting off food transportation lines to Paletwa township. It has been over a month since boats from Kyauktaw township, in northern Rakhine State, brought food and other important rations across the river to Paletwa township. Paletwa township depends on…
Hundreds of students failed to turn up for their final matriculation examination in southern Chin State, causing teachers to wonder why they didn’t make it to classes on Wednesday. Salai Aung Min, director of the educational department for Paletwa township, said their absence could be related to problems with transportation. Fighting in the area between the Burma Army, locally called Tatmadaw, and the Arakan Army (AA) has been intense in the last weeks and many speculate the clashes could have prevented the students from getting to school. Last month, fighting stopped shipments of rice, cooking oil and other domestic products…
With the Indian rupee dropping, money traders on the Burma-India border in Chin State have been put out of work. “All exporters have stopped doing business at the border. We can’t operate with the current exchange rates,” Awmtea, a business person from Rihhkawdar, told Khonumthung News. The rupee used to be 19:1 against the kyat but now it’s only 15:1. The devaluation has killed imports from Burma to India and put exporters from Burma out of business. Since last week, no money traders were working on the border. Cash transfer companies operating between India’s Mizoram State and Kalay in Sagaing…
A 30-year-old man and three homes were destroyed in a Burma Army air raid on a village in southern Chin State’s Paletwa Township this week, Khonumthung News has learned. Government forces clashed with the Arakan Army (AA) near Pui Wong village on March 4. Following the battle, the Burma Army’s air force launched an air attack on AA troops on the evening of the same day. The village is located on the banks of the Kaladan River between Paletwa in Chin State and Kyauktaw Township in Rakhine State, an area where armed conflict has intensified in recent months. “AA troops…
Unless the Union government is able to ensure security in Paletwa Township, it will be impossible to continue the Kaladan Multi-modal Transit Transport Project, the Chin State government has said.
No trade has been taking place between Paletwa in Chin State and Kyauktaw in Rakhine State due to the continued suspension of ferry service along the waterways connecting the towns. Locals in Paletwa say they are facing shortages of rice, cooking oil, salt and gasoline as a result of the lack of access to the Kyauktaw market. “Even we have money, we cannot buy things. The route is not blocked but people are afraid to travel in the area,” a local worker with a volunteer group told Khonumthung News. “Rice has yet to arrive in Paletwa. Rice sellers in the…
The Chin State Chief Minister Salai Lian Luai unveiled a statue of Vum Thu Maung in a park also dedicated to the Chin anti-colonial leader on Monday morning in Mindat Township. The 3-acre area located on the Mindat-Matupi road is meant to commemorate the life of Vum Thu Maung, who was active in Burma’s struggle against British colonialism and Japanese occupation in the 1940s. He also served as the first Chin affairs minister of the Chin Hills in 1947. “We want our new generation to remember our Chin national leader, to understand how he sacrificed for his country and people,”…
On the last 12th of February, President U Win Myint sent a message emphasizing the resolution of political issues, ceasing armed conflict and carrying out the successful implementation of the peace process on the occasion of the 73rd Union Day 2020. Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light (HWPL) and its affiliated organization International Peace Youth Group (IPYG) and partner organization International Women’s Peace Group (IWPG) conducted peace education; one of the ways to achieve peace and pass to posterity in various regions of Myanmar. < Future of Myanmar from Children, IPYG Youth Empowerment Workshop > IPYG who are working…