On January 8th, State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and Military officials met with representatives of ten ethnic armed groups to discuss revitalizing Myanmar’s once promising peace process. The Joint Implementation Coordination Meeting (JICM
The Arakan Army (AA), an armed separatist group in Rakhine State, has announced the formation of a taxation agency in its occupied territories. The new “Rakhine Peoples’ Authority”, as it is called, will collect funds for its political and mili
A small crowd of ethnic Rakhine activists took to Yangon’s Mahabandoola Park on Christmas eve to demand an end to an internet blackout in parts of Rakhine State. The blackout has been in place in some degree since June, but critics say it has w
Three small bombs were detonated in a Rakhine town on the day of a visit by State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. No one was injured in the December 19th blasts, which went off in the town of Manaung, on an island south of Sittwe. However, the incid
The Myanmar government has expanded its list of off-limits tourist destinations following the death of a German citizen in Shan State. Areas of Shan, Rakhine, Kachin, Chin, Sagaing and Yangon are on the updated no-travel list from the Ministry of Hot
A German man died in Shan State after driving a motorbike over a stray landmine. He was reportedly traveling outside Hsipaw, a popular trekking area, with an Argentinian woman when the incident occurred. “The man was driving a motorcycle on the vil