U N I T E D   N A T I O N S
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Integrated Regional Information Network for Central Asia

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Central Asia
IRIN-CA Weekly Round-up 15
13 - 19 July 2001


CONTENTS:

AFGHANISTAN: Impact and conflict greater than sanctions
AFGHANISTAN: Cholera deaths in Balkh Province unconfirmed
AFGHANISTAN: Food shortage could lead to famine - WFP 
AFGHANISTAN: Neigbouring states fuelling conflict
AFGHANISTAN: Freak flood strikes drought-affected farmers
AFGHANISTAN: Taliban impose internet ban
PAKISTAN: Dialogue with India should be maintained - Kofi Annan
PAKISTAN: Growing concern for safety of female candidates
PAKISTAN: Officials dismissive of US report on human trafficking
KYRGYZSTAN: Human rights activist released in Osh
TAJIKISTAN: Dialogue with India should be maintained - Kofi Annan
TAJIKISTAN: Presidential adviser assassinated
TAJIKISTAN: Tuberculosis on the rise


AFGHANISTAN: Impact and conflict greater than sanctions

A UN report to the Security Council on 13 July concluded that although
there were adverse humanitarian effects resulting from the current
sanctions regime, they paled in significance when compared to the effects
of war and drought. The report concluded that the scope and magnitude of
adverse humanitarian effects were "greatly exceeded by the effects of
other factors causing suffering, notably the unprecedented drought,
continuation of the conflict and widespread deprivation of human rights".  
The Secretary-General's mid-term review of the humanitarian implications
of UN sanctions found the clearest adverse effect was on civil aviation.  
Commenting on the report, spokeswoman for the Office of the Coordinator
for Afghanistan in Islamabad, Stephanie Bunker, told IRIN on Tuesday that
the report acknowledged that war was at the root of human suffering in the
country. "It's not sanctions, it's not drought. It clearly points to the
fighting as the main cause for suffering and displacement," she added.  
[For complete report see:
http://www.reliefweb.int/IRIN/asia/countrystories/afghanistan/20010718.phtml
]

AFGHANISTAN: Cholera deaths in Balkh Province unconfirmed

WHO officials on Thursday were unable to confirm reports of cholera deaths
in the northern Balkh Province. The WHO spokesman for Afghanistan, Dr Rana
Graber, told IRIN in Islamabad: "All agencies are very concerned about the
situation." With no proper health care in the area, the Taliban health
ministry had sent in a team of doctors with supplies, but asked for help
from international agencies, she added. According to a BBC report on
Wednesday, the opposition Northern Alliance claimed that a cholera
outbreak in the Aqkupruk District of Balkh Province, where Taliban and
opposition forces are fighting for control, killed 45 people in a single
day last week. The report cited an opposition spokesman, Mohammad Ashraf
Nadim, who said most of the victims were children and the elderly. Graber
said the governor of Balkh had informed the UN that there were 2,000
suspected cases of cholera.

AFGHANISTAN: Food shortage could lead to famine - WFP

A 1.4 million metric tonnes shortage of cereal in Afghanistan could lead
to a famine if it was not met this year, WFP warned on Tuesday. "There
have been increased levels of malnutrition over the last 10 months," the
regional public affairs spokesman for the UN food agency, Khaled Mansour,
told IRIN. The shortage means that five million Afghans will be severely
affected. Mansour said WFP was working on an emergency plan to try to
double assistance to the country before the advent of winter. The total
amount of cereal needed on a yearly basis is 4.1 million metric tonnes,
and although there is food in markets, many Afghans have lost their
purchasing power. Meanwhile, in an attempt to help bridge the shortfall,
the US has donated 75,200 mt of wheat, bringing the total value of aid
from Washington to Afghanistan to US $105 million since August 2000.

AFGHANISTAN: Neigbouring states fuelling conflict

Human Rights Watch (HRW) on 13 July released a report accusing Pakistan,
Iran, and Russia, as well as other states in the region, of providing
military support to Afghan factions with a long record of committing gross
abuses of human rights. The 55-page report - "Crisis of Impunity: The Role
of Pakistan, Russia, and Iran in Fuelling the Civil War in Afghanistan" -
details the nature of military support provided to the warring parties;  
the major transit routes used to move arms and other equipment; the
suppliers; the roles of state and non-state actors; and the response of
the international community. "What is happening in Afghanistan today is a
tragedy," HRW Executive Director Joost Hiltermann told IRIN.  
"Unfortunately, some of the very states that have pledged to work toward a
negotiated end to the war are in fact pouring oil on the fire by providing
military assistance to either of the two sides," he added. Hiltermann
maintained that the preoccupation of Russia and the United States with
fighting terrorism had forestalled a broader view that would take into
account the suffering of the Afghan people. "What is needed is concerted
action to stop the cycle of impunity in Afghanistan," he said. He called
on the international community to impose a comprehensive embargo on all
forms of military assistance for Afghanistan. [For complete report see:  
http://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/afghan2/ ]

AFGHANISTAN: Freak flood strikes drought-affected farmers

Struggling farmers outside the Afghan capital, Kabul, were counting their
losses on 13 July after a freak flood wiped out crops and livestock, AFP
reported. The flood occurred in Maydan Shahr, to the west of Kabul, an
area badly affected by one of the worst droughts in memory, striking most
of Afghanistan and bringing it to the brink of famine. According to
official reports, some 400 houses, thousands of hectares of agricultural
land and hundreds of cattle were destroyed by the flood, which swept
through the area after heavy rain on 11 July. Zamarak, a 25 year-old
farmer, lost his house and crops in the flood. "Now I have lost my crops,
my house and my cattle. What else remains for me but to leave for Kabul
and find a job there?" he said. Kabul is already burdened by tens of
thousands of villagers who have come in search of work after being driven
from their homes by the drought or the ongoing civil war, the report
added. Around 800,000 Afghans have become homeless because of the drought
and war since mid-2000. The United Nations has warned that the country
could face famine unless urgent aid arrives.

AFGHANISTAN: Taliban impose internet ban

The Taliban has banned internet use to stop Afghans from being influenced
by what an official described as "obscene web sites". "We are against the
misuse of the internet," a Taliban spokesman in Islamabad, Mohammed Suhail
Shaheen, told IRIN on Wednesday. Applying to officials and citizens in
Afghanistan, the ban has not been enforced on international relief
agencies. Shaheen said, "We fear that if there is no control over the
internet it could have a negative impact on Afghans." With most forms of
entertainment already banned, the restrictions placed on internet use are
another sign of the Islamic regime moving towards an even stricter rule.  
However, there is some hope that the ban may be lifted in the future when
Afghanistan has its own communication system. Taliban Foreign Minister
Mowlawi Wakil Ahmad Mutawakkil said the internet could only be used by
Afghans after the war-torn country established its own telephone links, an
AFP report said.

PAKISTAN: Dialogue with India should be maintained - Kofi Annan

Commenting on talks between Pakistan and India in Agra last weekend, which
failed to result in a joint statement, United Nations Secretary-General
Kofi Annan on Tuesday encouraged the leaders of both countries to regard
their recent talks as a first step towards resolving their differences. A
spokesman for the Secretary-General said in a statement that Annan called
on Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Pakistani President
General Pervez Musharraf to persevere with their efforts to establish a
sustainable bilateral dialogue. "It would have been too much to expect
major breakthroughs on the difficult issues of substance from a first
meeting," the spokesman, Fred Eckhard, said. "The fact that the two
leaders are talking can contribute to an easing of tensions, especially on
the question of Kashmir," he added. The weekend summit was the first
between the two nuclear rivals in more than two years.

PAKISTAN: Growing concern for safety of female candidates

With the fifth and final phase of local polls set for 9 August, there is
growing concern for the safety of female candidates in the upper Dir area
of Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province (NWFP). "There will most
definitely be trouble, as many women are not ready to withdraw nomination
papers," the regional coordinator for women's representation in local
government in the provincial capital, Peshawar, Aimal Khan, told IRIN on
Monday. Khan said about 50 women had filed nomination papers in this
conservative area, under the present military government's devolution of
power plan at the local level, allocating 33 percent of seats in the
lowest government tier to women. With religious and political groups
signing agreements barring women from taking part or voting in the
elections, since the polls started, females have been constantly
threatened, harassed and in some cases attacked in parts of the NWFP, he
added. [For complete report see:  
http://www.reliefweb.int/IRIN/asia/countrystories/pakistan/20010716.phtml
]

PAKISTAN: Officials dismissive of US report on human trafficking

Pakistan authorities on 13 July dismissed claims made in a US State
Department report last week that not enough was being done to counter
human trafficking in the country. The US "Trafficking in Persons" report
estimates that 700,000 people worldwide - mainly women and children - are
victims of criminal trafficking every year. Pakistan is included in a list
of 23 countries not judged to be taking significant steps to rectify the
problem.  Commenting on the report, the secretary of the Pakistan interior
ministry, Tasneem Noorani, was dismissive of the stories of bonded labour,
domestic servitude and sexual exploitation. "Reports of exploitation are
sometimes exaggerated. I haven't seen any reports of that kind," he told
IRIN. "Most illegal workers are making themselves available to local
entrepreneurs," he said, adding that with foreign NGOs so sensitive to
these issues, he would have expected even one case to be quickly made
public. [For complete report see:  
http://www.state.gov/g/inl/rls/tiprpt/2001/ ]

KYRGYZSTAN: Human rights activist released in Osh

The coordinator of the Kyrgyz Committee for Human Rights, Noormanjan
Arkabaev was released on Wednesday after 21 days of detention. While a
criminal investigation against him continues, his lawyer, Sabyrjan
Mahmudov, said the authorities released him for health reasons after he
began a hunger protest on 3 July. According to Thursday's Radio Free
Europe report, Arkabaev was arrested after 42 anti-government leaflets
calling on Kyrgyz President Askar Akayev to resign were discovered in his
office in the western city of Osh.  Arkabaev contends the leaflets were
planted in his office, and the allegations against him fabricated in an
effort to suppress his human rights activities in the country. On 13 July,
he appealed to the international community for assistance, the report
added. Meanwhile, in a report by the web-based 'Times of Central Asia' on
11 July, the Osh regional branch of the National Security Service denied
that the case was connected with his activity as a human rights defender,
and that there were no political motives behind it.

TAJIKISTAN: Presidential adviser assassinated

A spokesman for the interior ministry, Khudoinazar Asoyev, has confirmed
to IRIN that the state adviser to the president on international issues,
Karim Yuldoshev, was assassinated on Tuesday outside his home in the
capital Dushanbe. In a press conference following the death, Chairman of
the Communist Party of Tajikistan Shodi Shabdolov is reported to have said
he suspected the murder to be politically motivated. Yuldoshev had been
neither a businessman, nor had he been engaged in any other activity
except public service, he said, adding: "I can say that there are still
forces in the country which want to impede strengthening of the peace
process in Tajikistan and don't want Tajikistan stable." People closely
connected with the president's administration were now becoming targets,
he said. However, the deputy secretary of the country's security council,
Nuralisho Nazarov, dismissed such claims, telling IRIN: "Nobody relates
Karim Yuldoshev's assassination to his post as state adviser."

TAJIKISTAN: Tuberculosis on the rise

The head physician of the Tajik tuberculosis (TB) prevention centre,
Qurbongul Zokirova, told IRIN that from 1993 to 2000 the number of TB
cases in this Central Asian country had increased by 60 percent. TB cases
have particularly increased in the Khatlon region. According to physicians
at the centre, the main reason for the increase is poverty, the increasing
gap between rich and poor, unemployment, and migration. According to a
recent Asia-Plus report, the incidence of TB is particularly high in
Khatlon Oblast, where it ranges from 54 to 83 per 100,000 inhabitants. In
the city of Kulob, 11 people had died of the disease since the beginning
of the year, the report said. [For more information on tuberculosis see:  
http://www.aegis.com/topics/oi/oi-tb.html ]

Islamabad, 20 July 2001


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