U N I T E D   N A T I O N S
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Integrated Regional Information Network for Central Asia

Tel: +92-51-2211451 Ext 484 
Fax: +92-51-2211 450 
e-mail: irin@irin.org.pk


Central Asia
IRIN-CA Weekly Round-up 14
6 - 12 July 2001


CONTENTS:

AFGHANISTAN: Five die of suspected cholera - WHO
AFGHANISTAN: BBC launches children's radio programme
PAKISTAN: More than 500 Afghan families repatriated 
PAKISTAN: WFP discontinues food aid to Akora Khattak
PAKISTAN: Afghans jailed for minor offences to be released
PAKISTAN: Donors respond to Taliban anti-drug appeal
IRAN: Fine forces thousands of Afghans out of work
IRAN: Drought continues to play havoc - UN report
UZBEKISTAN: Agriculture in crisis as UN makes drought appeal  
UZBEKISTAN: HRW condemns death of Uzbek activist 
KYRGYZSTAN: Human rights activist on hunger strike
TAJIKISTAN: French geologist killed in Karategin Valley
TAJIKISTAN: Struggle for independent media

AFGHANISTAN: Five die of suspected cholera - WHO

At least five people died of suspected cholera, with another 50
unconfirmed cases, in the northern Afghan city of Pol-e Khomri this month,
a WHO spokesman in Islamabad told IRIN on Wednesday. Dr Mubarak said 100
patients had been registered with suspected cholera at the start of July
resulting from the ongoing severe drought. As living conditions continue
to deteriorate in Afghanistan, there is a lack of clean drinking water and
sanitation, raising concern among doctors, who fear a possible outbreak.
There have also been reports of cholera in the northern city of Mazar-e
Sharif, and WHO has sent a team to the northern region to distribute
cholera kits and conduct an assessment.

AFGHANISTAN: BBC launches children's radio programme

The BBC launched a new radio series on 7 July aimed at Afghan children who
have been deprived of normal schooling by almost 20 years of warfare and
restrictions imposed by the Taliban. With girls banned from attending
school, the UNICEF-backed project is not intended as a replacement for
school education, but aims at stimulating curiosity and encouraging
children to ask questions. Under the name of Radio Education for Afghan
Children, the programme will broadcast in Pashto and Persian, and
programme-makers are seeking feedback from children in refugee camps in
Pakistan, and from those within Afghanistan itself.

PAKISTAN: More than 500 Afghan families repatriated

Fed up with their living conditions, the first group of 59 Afghan families
left the makeshift refugee camp at Jalozai on Wednesday for Afghanistan.
It was the first UNHCR-facilitated repatriation from the site, near the
provincial capital, Peshawar, in Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province,
currently housing some 60,000 newly arrived Afghans. "The Pakistan welcome
mat was no longer out," UNHCR spokesman Peter Kessler told IRIN. He
explained: "It was not a UN organised repatriation, as these Afghans opted
to return home."

Meanwhile, Afghan refugees from other camps have also been repatriated
over the last week as UNHCR restarted its programme, with 205 families
from camps in the southwestern city of Quetta in the Baluchistan Province
returning to the southwestern Afghan province of Kandahar. At least 304
refugee families evicted from the Nasir Bagh refugee camp in Peshawar are
going home. For further information go to:
http://www.reliefweb.int/IRIN/asia/countrystories/pakistan/20010711a.phtml]

PAKISTAN: WFP discontinues food aid to Akora Khattak

WFP sources confirmed on Monday they were discontinuing assistance to
16,500 Afghan refugees in the Akora Khattak camp in Peshawar, saying
residents there were self-sufficient now. "These people have enough casual
labour to feed themselves,"  WFP's regional public affairs spokesman,
Khaled Mansour, told IRIN. The decision was partly based on the fact that
WFP had started assistance at the makeshift Jalozai camp, he added.

Some refugees had been at the camp for as long as 10 years, Mansour said.
WFP had been supplying food aid to Akora Khattak for four years, but
usually only assisted for a period of two years. He added that the
decision to stop assistance was made last year, and the last distribution
was made in June. However, some Pakistani newspapers reported that as many
as 2,000 refugees had moved out of Akora Khattak and into Jalozai. 

PAKISTAN: Afghans jailed for minor offences to be released

The Pakistani government has said it will release Afghans in jail for
minor offences, after reviewing cases, but will not allow them to stay in
the country. "They are alien to us, we cannot allow them to continue to
live here," Pakistani Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider told IRIN on
Thursday. "We will release and help them go back home," he added. Haider's
comments followed an agreement earlier in the week between the interior
ministry and the Taliban ambassador in Islamabad, Abdul Salam Zaeef, to
establish a commission to review cases of Afghans in jail.

The commission, comprised of two Afghan and two Pakistani officials, would
firstly establish exactly how many Afghans were languishing in Pakistani
jails, as there are no accurate statistics.  "We fear there may be
thousands in jail," Taliban embassy spokesman Mohammad Suhail Shaheen told
IRIN. Welcoming the move, Shaheen said, "We felt this was needed and was
well overdue." 

PAKISTAN: Donors respond to Taliban anti-drug appeal

The Taliban anti-drugs chief told representatives of the Afghan Support
Group (ASG) in Islamabad on Tuesday that the ban on opium poppy
cultivation was permanent, and had been motivated by religious reasons. An
official of the German embassy, Dr Pascal Richter, told IRIN that in the
light of the ban being effectively enforced, the donor group had agreed
that "rapid and decisive action was needed to avoid it being reversed".
According to Richter, the head of the Taliban's Drug Control Commission,
Abdul Hamid Akhondzadeh, asked for international help in providing
subsistence income for farmers and migrant labourers whose livelihoods had
previously depended on opium production. Akhondzadeh also said he was
interested in international help to eliminate opium stockpiles in the
country. Last month, the ASG asked the UN Drug Control Programme for
Afghanistan to prepare a package of measures in support of affected
farmers and labourers, with member states expected to review these in
July. Although it was too early to predict the level of funding available,
Richter confirmed that there was "a considerable degree of interest in
providing support".

IRAN: Fine forces thousands of Afghans out of work

Thousands of Afghans in Iran have been forced out of work due to a new
fine imposed on Iranians who employ them, UN sources confirmed on Monday.
"Thousands and thousands of Afghans have been dismissed from their posts
over the past few weeks," the UNHCR acting head of mission in Tehran, Bo
Schack, told IRIN. Under the new law, imposed two weeks ago, an employer
must pay the government the equivalent of US $25 for each Afghan worker.
The fine was put in place after authorities came under intense pressure by
Iranians who demanded action over Afghans working illegally in the
country. With unemployment hovering at 15 percent, many complain that
Afghans are taking jobs away from them. However, Schack dismissed this
claim, saying the jobs taken by Afghans were at a very low manual level,
earning around US $2.5 daily, and did not pose a serious threat to the
Iranians. Iran has said it cannot cope with over 2 million Afghan
refugees, and the imposing of the fine is another indicator that the host
nation is becoming restless with the situation. There have also been
recent reports of Iranian youths clashing with Afghan refugees, protesting
against their heavy presence in the country.

[For full IRIN
report:http://www.reliefweb.int/IRIN/asia/countrystories/iran/20010709.phtml]

IRAN: Drought continues to play havoc - UN report

While the number of Iranian provinces severely affected by drought is
lower than last year, the total damage the drought has caused, estimated
at US $2.6 billion, is far greater this year, a UN inter-agency report
issued this week revealed. Compared to the last hydrological year
(September to June), all but three provinces experienced a reduction of
precipitation this year. In eastern Sistan-Baluchestan, precipitation is
down by 78 percent, with the southern Kerman and Bushehr provinces down by
58 and 57 percent respectively. Shortage of drinking water had been the
most serious consequence of the drought, the report said. According to
estimates, 90 percent of the population is affected to varying degrees,
and most populations in the 12 most severely affected provinces rely on
water tankers to transport drinking water. Other areas affected include
the agriculture and livestock sector. As the susceptibility to diseases in
drought-affected areas increased, public health had also become a strong
area of concern, it added. While the Iranian government has been making a
serious effort to address the consequences of the drought since Spring
2001, the report called for a concerted effort by the international
community as well. [To see full report: see: 
http://www.reliefweb.int/w/Rwb.nsf/UNID/08951820C13C2BC5C1256A85005081E0?OpenDocument
]

UZBEKISTAN: Agriculture in crisis as UN makes urgent appeal

An urgent UN appeal was made on Tuesday for more than a million farmers in
northwestern Uzbekistan under threat from what is being called the worst
drought in a decade. Up to 600,000 farmers and their families living south
of the Aral Sea have access to very little water, have lost their homes,
incomes, are unemployed and are at risk of catching deadly diseases. In
order to help the farmers, a number of measures need to be taken according
to OCHA, such as repair and maintenance of desalinisation plants and the
installation of manual pumps, the report said. 

Meanwhile, Uzbek grain farmers face further destitution as the government
seizes entire harvests at knockdown prices, according to a 6 July article
by the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR). In spite of water
shortages ruining thousands of hectares of grain this year, Uzbek
agricultural officials have been requisitioning entire crops in order to
meet annual state quotas. This policy risks impoverishing farmers, who,
under existing laws, have the right to retain part of their harvests. [For
the full IWPR report:
http://www.reliefweb.int/w/rwb.nsf/480fa8736b88bbc3c12564f6004c8ad5/490ef8692417d8d0c1256a860047c643?OpenDocument]

UZBEKISTAN: HRW condemns death of Uzbek activist

Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Wednesday condemned the death in custody of
human rights defender Shovrik Ruzimuradov. According to the international
watchdog group, the 44 year-old father of seven and head of the
Kashkadarya branch of the Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan (HRSU) was
arrested on 15 June. He was held incommunicado in an undisclosed location
for 21 days before police returned his corpse on 7 July. Uzbek law
enforcement officials repeatedly blocked his family's attempts to locate
him in custody, and HRSU reported that he had died in the basement of the
Ministry of Internal Affairs. 

In recent months, Ruzimuradov had spoken out publicly on the arrest of
some 70 men from the Surkhandarya Province, who were convicted in June of
collaborating with armed insurgents in the summer 2000. He also advocated
on behalf of hundreds of people forcibly displaced from their villages in
Surkhandarya as part of the armed forces' "mopping-up" operation, the
group said. "Ruzimuradov shouldn't have been in custody in the first
place," HRW executive director of the Europe and Central Asia division,
Elizabeth Anderson, said. "The Uzbek government has to answer for this
tragedy." In a December 2000 report, HRW documented 15 deaths in custody
due to torture over a three-year period. [For a complete copy of the HRW
report: see: http://www.hrw.org/reports/2000/uzbek/ ]

KYRGYZSTAN: Human rights activist on hunger strike

A representative of the Kyrgyz Committee for Human Rights in the Osh
Province had gone on hunger strike while in police custody, the web-based
'Times of Central Asia' reported on Wednesday. Human rights activist
Noomanjan Arkabaev was arrested on 27 June charged with "a public appeal
to change the constitutional system and for an armed riot", the report
said. According to the regional prosecutor's office, 42 anti-government
leaflets were seized at Arkabaev's office in Osh. Arkabaev's lawyer,
however, said the leaflets were planted, and that the arrest was a
violation of human rights. The Osh regional branch of the National
Security Service denied that the case was connected with Arkabaev's
activity as a human rights defender, and that there were no political
motives behind it, the report said. 

TAJIKISTAN: French geologist killed in Karategin Valley

A French geologist and a local policeman were killed on Tuesday in
Jirgital in the Karategin Valley in central Tajikistan, Security
International relief workers confirmed on Wednesday. A UN source told IRIN
that the geologist, who was not thought to have had any connections to
international organisations in Tajikistan, had arrived from Osh in
neighbouring Kyrgyzstan a few days earlier. Tajik authorities announced on
Wednesday that they had arrested one person in connection with the crime,
which was thought to be financially motivated. 

The Karategin Valley, once a stronghold for former opposition fighters
during the civil war, has remained notoriously insecure for foreigners.
The UN temporarily withdrew its staff from the valley following the murder
of four military observers in 1998. The high number of unemployed and
armed ex-fighters has contributed to increased lawlessness in the region.

TAJIKISTAN: Struggle for independent media

International condemnation has helped to secure the release of Dododjon
Atovulloev, publisher of the exiled Tajik newspaper 'Charogi Ruz', who had
been arrested on 6 July in Moscow on charges of sedition and insulting the
Tajik president. According to the Russian news agency, Interfax, the
Russian prosecutor-general, Vladimir Ustinov, had concluded there were
insufficient grounds for Atovulloev's extradition to Tajikistan, where he
would have faced a long prison sentence or the death penalty.

The episode has brought "international attention to the goings-on inside
Tajikistan", the country director of Internews, Tajikistan (a US-based
foundation which promotes press freedom), Roshan Khadivi, told IRIN on
Tuesday. She said the arrest was counter-productive and had generated
"unnecessary fear among local journalists in Tajikistan".  Struggling to
promote independent media in Tajikistan, local journalists assert that the
authorities are "stuck in a Soviet-era mentality". Despite the
introduction of modern media legislation in 1991, a big gap exists between
the theory and application of media laws. With the legal status of
journalism poorly understood by the authorities, local journalists opt for
self-censorship to avoid harassment and intimidation. [For more
information go to:
http://www.reliefweb.int/IRIN/asia/countrystories/tajikistan/20010710.phtml]

Islamabad, 12 July 2001


[IRIN-Asia: Tel: +92-51-2211451 Ext 480-4 Fax: +92-51-2211450 or
+92-51-2211475 e-mail: irinasia@irin.org.pk]


[This item is delivered in the "asia-english" service of the UN's IRIN
humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views
of the United Nations. For further information, free subscriptions, or
to change your keywords, contact e-mail: irin@ocha.unon.org or Web:
http://www.reliefweb.int/IRIN . If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post
this item, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Reposting by commercial
sites requires written IRIN permission.]

Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2000
 

distributed by
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Center for International Disaster Information
Volunteers in Technical Assistance
                                          web: www.cidi.org
                                     listserv: www.cidi.org/listsub.htm
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Central Asia                       www.cidi.org/humanitarian/irin/casia