Chin State civil society organizations (CSOs) calling for greater transparency in Burma have asked that the original demarcation lines between the state and other regions be reinforced. The CSOs held a central executive committee meeting in Tedim, Chin State, from July 4-5 to discuss the issue. “Chin State has disputes with Sagaing, Magwe and Rakhine State over border demarcation,” Andrew Htar Tawng, who represents Chin State’s branch of Alliance CSOs for Myanmar’s Transparency and Accountability, told Khonumthung News, describing how various maps have shifted these borders over the years. “We want the Union and state governments to solve this demarcation…
Author: Editor
A Chin State government press conference is commencing on today, with multiple media outlets dissatisfied with restrictions in place for reporters. Today press conference is set to review the performance of the state government’s third year in office. It was originally supposed to be held on June 24 but was pushed ahead due to scheduling conflicts. The government released its own “eight-point principles” for media outlets ahead of the press event, stating that journalists were allowed to ask only three questions, that the questions must be submitted in advance, and that no live broadcast would be allowed. Chin media condemned…
Chin State locals fear losing both their land and their customary land management system, due to Burma’s Vacant, Fallow and Virgin (VFV) Land Management Law, the Chin Farmers Network said in a statement this week. This VFV land law—enacted in 2012 and amended in 2018—required people or organizations to apply for ownership of land with land management committees within six months of the passing of the land law, lest the land in question be considered up for grabs. The law does not take into consideration traditional land management practiced by ethnic people such as the Chin, particularly regarding demarcation and…
The government of Mizoram State in northeast India deported 135 Rakhine refugees to Burma on Tuesday. The people came from northern Rakhine State and Paletwa Township in southern Chin State and took refuge across the Indo-Burma border in the Lawngtlai area of Mizoram. They first came to the area in 2017 after the Burma Army and the Arakan Army clashed in Paletwa. “Mizoram authorities deported the displaced people to the border. The Burma Army and other officials picked them up at the border. There was no problem in the transferring process,” Ko John, an ethnic Chin man living in Lawngtlai,…
The government of Chin State has agreed to allow the Beijing-based PowerChina International Group, Ltd., to begin work on five middle-class hydropower dams in four townships. According to Soe Htet, the minister for municipal affairs, electricity and industry, the company will spend a year surveying the sites of the five projects before signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the government to start construction. “According to the agreement, they will take one year to conduct a ground survey. After that, if the results show that the dams are viable, we will sign an MoU with them. The ground survey is…
Locals and members of government departments in northern Rakhine State and southern Chin State say they are facing difficulties because access to the internet has been cut in the region for more than a week. Under an order from the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, telecommunications and mobile phone operators cut internet access on June 21 to Buthidaung, Maungdaw, Mrauk-U, Kyauktaw, Minbya, Ponnagyun, Rathedaung and Myaepon in Rakhine State and Paletwa in Chin State. Clashes between the Arakan Army and the Burma Army have been occurring in the area. Wai Tang, who is working for a Paletwa Township social volunteer…
The Chin State government set up the new Ministry of Immigration and Human Resources in the state on Monday, appointing parliamentarian Phwe Ah of Kanpetlet Township as its minister. The move occurred in the state’s 18th parliamentary session on July 1, in which Phwe Ah was nominated for the post and approved. Burma’s President U Win Myint then appointed him as Minister of Immigration and Human Resources for Chin State. Phwe Ah told Khonumthung News on Tuesday that he was not sure how many departments would be part of the new ministry, and that the human resources aspect of the…
Burmese police arrested four Rohingya people in Rihkhawdar, Chin State on Monday morning after they unofficially re-entered the country from India’s Mizoram State. Lalpeklawma, who is in charge of the Rihkhawdar’s information and public relations office, told Khonumthung News that the individuals—three men and one woman—were from Rakhine State. “According to the police records, they were arrested in Ward 2 of Rihkhawdar town at around 4:00 a.m. this morning,” he said on Monday, adding that they had “illegally” entered Burma by crossing a stream which marks the border between India and Chin State in that area. “Currently, they are being…
Twelve villagers from the community of King Tling arrived in an internally displaced people’s camp in Paletwa Township, southern Chin State, last week saying they had fled an Arakan Army (AA) camp on the Bangladeshi border. Among the 12 people who arrived in Meezer village on June 26 were six children under the age of 13 and three men and three women. They are reportedly among 52 ethnic Chin villagers from King Tling who were taken to the border camp in February. “Currently, they are living with King Tling villagers in the Meezar IDP camp. They are living with their…
Three individuals identified by local authorities as “Bengalis” were arrested in the Chin State border town of Rihkhawdar on Tuesday as they tried to enter the country from India’s Mizoram State. The arrest was made by a combined force of Rihkhawdar immigration and police officials shortly after the two women and one man crossed the border about 200 meters north of the town’s India-Burma Friendship Bridge. The authorities were waiting for them there after receiving a tipoff. “It’s true, I can confirm this news. They were arrested yesterday and have been transferred to Falam police station,” said Chan Lian Ner,…