Weekly Round-Up - IRINCAS-51: 29-Mar-02
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
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Central Asia
IRIN-CA Weekly Round-up 51
23 - 29 March 2002
CONTENTS:
AFGHANISTAN: Thousands feared dead after earthquake
AFGHANISTAN: A nation in mourning as earthquake relief pours in
AFGHANISTAN: Back-to-school just the beginning
AFGHANISTAN: Turkey poised to make decision on ISAF
AFGHANISTAN: No delay expected in repatriation from Iran
KYRGYZSTAN: Focus on growing political instability
TAJIKISTAN: Border Afghans go home
PAKISTAN: Afghans still await assistance at Chaman border
PAKISTAN: Focus on child labour
PAKISTAN: Human rights report critical of government
PAKISTAN: Focus on drug rehabilitation
AFGHANISTAN: Thousands feared dead after earthquake
Up to five thousand people may have been killed by a series of powerful
earthquakes that hit northern Afghanistan on Monday and Tuesday. The
United Nations and international relief agencies have started an emergency
assessment of the area in northern Afghanistan's Baghlan province, where
more than ten thousand people have been displaced by the disaster.
"Reportedly 1,500 have been killed with another 1,500 wounded but the
figure is changing constantly as information comes in," Rebecca Richards,
a UN spokeswoman told IRIN in Kabul. Aid workers said most of the deaths
occurred when hundreds of buildings collapsed in the district of Nahrin
after an initial quake measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale devastated the
region at about 1930 local time on Monday. About 54,000 people live in
Nahrin. Although the quake was not particularly powerful, its epicentre -
175 km north of Kabul in the Hindu Kush mountains - was close to Nahrin
and hence the loss of life and destruction.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=26969&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN
AFGHANISTAN: A nation in mourning as earthquake relief pours in
Afghanistan observed a day of official mourning on Thursday as relief work
gathered pace for the thousands of victims of a series of powerful
earthquakes that killed hundreds in the north of the country and made tens
of thousands homeless this week. Aircraft full of blankets, tents,
emergency relief supplies and medicines continued to make their way from
the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e Sharif to the worst affected districts
of Nahrin and Burka in the northern Baghlan province, the scene of massive
destruction where strong aftershocks continue to keep residents and aid
workers nervous. The joint relief effort by the United Nations, aid
agencies and the Afghan authorities, is working on a planning figure of
20,000 families affected in one way or another by the series of quakes.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=27002&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN
AFGHANISTAN: Back-to-school just the beginning
The Afghan authorities, with the help of the United Nations Children Fund
(UNICEF) and NGOS took a giant step this week - enrolling hundreds of
thousands of children in primary schools for the first time in years. An
estimated 1.5 to 1.8 million children - including girls, came to school on
that historic day and officials expect more enrolment because there has
been an overwhelming response by the people of Afghanistan. However,
although a great start, this is less than half the number of children in
Afghanistan who should be going to school. "We think up to 1.5 to 1.7
million children will come back to school now," UNICEF spokesman Edward
Carwardine told IRIN in Kabul.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=27019&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN
AFGHANISTAN: Turkey poised to make decision on ISAF
Ankara is ready to take a decision on whether to take over Afghanistan's
International Security Force (ISAF) from Great Britain, government
officials told IRIN on Friday. The only Muslim country to take part in the
4,800 strong force, Turkey has already deployed 261 soldiers to the
multinational peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan. "I'm extremely cautious
when and how this decision will be made," government spokesman, Huseyin
Dirioz told IRIN from the Turkish capital Ankara. "Things are being
clarified now, but we hope for a political decision soon," he maintained.
He noted, however, work was still needed in establishing the composition
of these forces, logistics, the clarity of the mandate and whether it
would be extended beyond the Afghan capital Kabul.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=27018&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN
AFGHANISTAN: No delay expected in repatriation from Iran
Despite an apparent delay in the Afghan interim government's signing of a
tripartite agreement between Tehran, Kabul and the United Nations, no
postponement is expected in a planned repatriation programme to assist
hundreds of thousands of Afghans return to their homeland from Iran this
year. "The agreement will hopefully be signed in early April," UNHCR
spokesman in Iran, Mohammad Nouri told IRIN from the capital Tehran on
Tuesday. "We anticipate the programme will begin without delay. UNHCR, in
cooperation with the government of Iran, are making all the necessary
preparations for its kick off on 9 April," he explained.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=26962&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN
KYRGYZSTAN: Focus on growing political instability
Back in his office, Parliamentary Deputy Azimbek Beknazarov has every
reason to savour an unusual political victory. Arrested in January after
he publicly called for the impeachment of President Askar Akayev,
Beknazarov won his release last week, following an unprecedented
mobilisation of his supporters which left seven dead and forced the
government into retreat. But despite his elation, there is also bitterness
in Beknazarov's voice: seven people paid for his freedom with their lives
and scores more were injured by government forces as they made their way
to Beknazarov's court case on 17 March in the village of Kerben, in the
southern province of Jalal-Abad. Two days later, Beknazarov was released
under a written commitment not to leave the country.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=27000&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=KYRGYZSTAN
TAJIKISTAN: Border Afghans go home
At least 2,000 Afghans living on one of the Pyandhz river islands
bordering Tajikistan and Afghanistan have gone home. "They feel that the
time has come to go back home and be a part of the rehabilitation process
in Afghanistan," Nickolas Coussidis, the head of the office of the United
Nations High Commissioner for refugees (UNHCR) in Tajikistan, told IRIN
from the capital, Dushanbe, on Thursday. Of the estimated 12,000 Afghans
living on two islands in the river, all those living on the island known
as Site 13 have returned to their home villages in the northern Afghan
province of Konduz, only 15 km across the border.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=26997&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=TAJIKISTAN
PAKISTAN: Afghans still await assistance at Chaman border
While 47,000 new Afghan refugees have been admitted into Pakistan this
year by Islamabad at the Chaman border crossing in the country's southwest
Baluchistan province, more than 30,000 Afghans are still awaiting a
solution to their plight at the edge of UNHCR's Killi Faizo camp, a
squalid frontier site, just inside the border. "This is a big group and
many of them have been there since the beginning of the Islamic Eid
holiday," UNHCR spokeswoman, Ragnhild Ek told IRIN in the Pakistani
capital on Thursday. "There were 10,000 people waiting to be preregistered
when it was discontinued on 21 February. That number has now tripled," she
explained.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=26999&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN
PAKISTAN: Focus on child labour
Covered in engine oil and paint, Mohammad Shahbaz, 13, has been toiling at
a car workshop in Rawalpindi in Pakistan's central Punjab Province for the
past year. Stripping and painting cars, he works six days a week, 10 hours
a day and gets paid a meagre 20 rupees (10 US cents) daily. "My father
died, and my mother said I had to work. The money I earn pays for my
evening meal," he told IRIN. The boy had received no training for the job
and learnt by watching others. Shahbaz spends hours every day sanding and
spraying without even basic safety equipment, and is often overcome by
paint fumes. "It is very hard work and takes time," he stressed. "I don't
want to be a burden on my mother," he said, adding that his four brothers
and two sisters were all working.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=26998&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN
PAKISTAN: Human rights report critical of government
Human rights activists in Pakistan gathered in the capital Islamabad on
Wednesday to launch this year's annual human rights report for 2001.
Published by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), the report
was particularly critical of the government's lack of resolve in
addressing human rights issues. "The government has not fulfilled its
responsibilities and indeed is the main violator of human rights in
Pakistan," HRCP chairman Afrasiab Khattak told IRIN. "Human rights norms
have been violated on a very large scale," he explained, adding draconian
laws had been freed and the fight against terrorism had been used as a
pretext for violating rights.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=26984&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN
PAKISTAN: Focus on drug rehabilitation
Since 1990 he has smoked, injected and peddled drugs everywhere including
Britain. His life was extreme highs and extreme lows - a sudden rush of
heroin-induced exhilaration followed by depression, disappointment and
regrets. But now Saleem Khan has been clean of drugs for three months and
he looks forward to the day when his rehabilitation programme is over and
he can return to his wife and daughter - and maybe a normal life. Khan is
one of several thousand Pakistanis trying to kick away their addiction to
drugs - mainly heroin and synthetic opiates including Bupronorphine,
Anti-Histamine, tranquilisers, antiematic and morphine. Helping them in
their quest are a few drug rehabilitation centres, mostly run by NGOs and
private doctors.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=26762&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN
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