Three regime troops ‘killed’ in Rakhine State capital
A source close to the Arakan Army (AA) told DVB that at least three regime troops were killed and five others were injured by Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), or drones, launched by the AA in the Arakan State capital Sittwe on Saturday. Regime forces launched retaliatory artillery strikes against AA positions after it attacked four regime outposts on Jan. 2, the source added.
A Sittwe resident told DVB that he has heard small-arms fire from regime Police Battalion 12 outside the town and from a regime outpost near Let Way Thalone Taw Pagoda, one mile (1.6 km) north of Sittwe, since Jan. 1. Regime forces have intensified night time patrols inside the city, and brought in reinforcements from Shwemingan Naval Base, five miles (8 km) southeast of Sittwe.
Residents told DVB that the regime’s administration in Sittwe announced that a festival will take place to mark the city’s 200th anniversary Jan. 21-23. The AA has seized control of 14 out of Arakan’s 17 townships, as well as Paletwa Township in southern Chinland, since it launched a statewide offensive against regime forces on Nov. 13, 2023. Sittwe, Kyaukphyu and Manaung are under regime control.
National Unity Government rejects Myitsone dam project
The National Unity Government (NUG) stated on Tuesday that it will cooperate with allied resistance groups to protect the Irrawaddy River. This is in response to the regime’s attempt to revive the suspended Myitsone hydropower dam project – planned at the confluence of Maykha and Malikha rivers on the upper Irrawaddy River in Kachin State – following the conclusion of its elections on Jan. 25.
Nay Phone Latt, the The NUG spokesperson, said on Jan. 6 that the regime is “selling out” the Irrawaddy to Beijing in an attempt to “cling to power.” Naw Bu, the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) spokesperson, told DVB that the project’s revival is likely due to “pressure from China.” Senior General Min Aung Hlaing led a military coup that overthrew the National League for Democracy (NLD) government on Feb. 1, 2021.
Nay Phone Latt added that Min Aung Hlaing is an “illegitimate ruler” and that his regime doesn’t have the power to sign any contract with Beijing. The China-backed project was first outlined in 2009 but suspended in 2011 by President Thein Sein’s Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) government due to public opposition over earthquake risks. It is located 16 miles (25 km) northeast of the Sagaing Fault.
Renowned writer Ma Thida to host literary talks in Japan
Ma Thida, a renowned Myanmar writer, human rights activist, and former political prisoner, will hold a series of literary talks in Japan’s Nagoya on Jan. 11, the capital Tokyo on Jan. 18, and Osaka on Jan. 25, organizers told DVB. This is her first literary tour in Asia since she fled Burma into exile following the 2021 coup and resettled in Berlin, Germany.
One of the organizers in Japan, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that the Ma Thida literary talks were organized to allow people interested in her work to engage directly with the author, and to create space for discussion around her books, ideas, and experiences of Myanmar people living in Japan.
Ma Thida will speak on the theme of “Today for Tomorrow,” exploring the intersection of politics, human rights and literature. It will be open to the public and free of charge, organizers added. Ma Thida founded PEN Myanmar, a freedom of expression organization fostering a literary culture, and served as its president 2013-16. Read more
News by Region
ARAKAN—Residents of Maungdaw Township told DVB that five of eight people kidnapped by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) escaped on Monday. Eight civilians, including two women and a boy, were kidnapped by ARSA after they crossed the border into Bangladesh on Jan. 4.
A member of the United League of Arakan (ULA), the AA political wing, told DVB that it sent out a search party which found the five who’d escaped from ARSA on Jan. 5. A Maungdaw resident told DVB that every family is concerned about ARSA kidnappings near the Burma-Bangladesh border.
NAYPYIDAW—The Philippines’ Secretary of Foreign Affairs and newly appointed Special Envoy of the ASEAN 2026 Chair on Myanmar, Theresa Lazaro, met with regime leader Min Aung Hlaing in Naypyidaw on Tuesday. The two reportedly discussed “regional and bilateral diplomatic issues.”
“The Philippines will continue to build on the efforts of previous Special Envoys of the ASEAN Chair on Myanmar in advancing the implementation of the Five-Point Consensus,” said Lazaro, referring to the ASEAN peace plan agreed to by Min Aung Hlaing in 2021 but not implemented upon his return to Burma.
MAGWAY—Three regime officials were killed and three police officers were injured by an attack on a convoy carrying a Union Election Commission (UEC) official carried out by an unknown armed group on the road connecting Naypyidaw to Magway Region on Tuesday, residents told DVB.
A source close to the regime in Naypyidaw told DVB that the UEC official, identified as Aung Lwin Oo, was unharmed and returned to the capital with security provided by the military. The People’s Defence Force (PDF) attacked regime positions in six townships of Magway Region on Dec. 28, the first day of voting in the regime’s 2025-26 elections.
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