Weekly Round-Up - IRINCAS-56: 03-May-02
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Central Asia
IRIN-CA Weekly Round-up 56
27 April - 03 May 2002
CONTENTS:
TAJIKISTAN: EC announces US $9 million for drought victims
UZBEKISTAN: Women linked to Islamic groups rounded up
PAKISTAN: President wins referendum amid allegations
PAKISTAN: Focus on tribal reforms
AFGHANISTAN: NGO concerned over security in the south
AFGHANISTAN: Turkey agrees to take ISAF command
AFGHANISTAN: Food aid reaches flood victims
AFGHANISTAN: Repatriation tops 400,000
CENTRAL ASIA: Humanitarian goods transport to be facilitated
CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly News Wrap
TAJIKISTAN: EC announces US $9 million for drought victims
The European Commission (EC) announced a further US $9 million for
drought-stricken Tajikistan to fund programmes over the next 12 months
providing food for thousands of people, an EC official confirmed to IRIN
on Friday. "The humanitarian situation is still pretty serious in
Tajikistan," spokesperson for the European Commission Humanitarian Aid
Office (ECHO), Michael Curtis in the Belgian capital, Brussels said. The
bulk of the money will be spent on providing basic food for 55,000 people,
including 15,000 children suffering from acute or severe malnutrition. The
World Food Programme (WFP) has been supplying food aid to the country
since 1993. In 2001, WFP and FAO estimated that a million people were in
need of emergency food aid and recommended a further 90,500 mt of
emergency food aid for a period of nine months between October 2001 and
June 2002.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=27588&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=TAJIKISTAN
UZBEKISTAN: Women linked to Islamic groups rounded up
The international NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) has warned that the
government of Uzbekistan is extending its crackdown against "independent"
Muslims to include women. International and local human rights experts
estimate 7,000 independent Muslims have already been sentenced to up to 20
years in prison for their religious beliefs, affiliations, and practices
in the Central Asian country. "We are witnessing an increase in the number
of trials involving independent Muslim women," HRW representative, Marie
Struthers told IRIN from the Uzbek capital Tashkent on Thursday. "This
coincides with an increase in the number of demonstrations being held by
such women protesting against the detention of their husbands or family
members," she explained.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=27569&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=UZBEKISTAN
PAKISTAN: President wins referendum amid allegations
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf won a landslide victory for an
extension of his rule for another five years from October through a
referendum on Tuesday. But human rights groups and his opponents have
accused the government of serious polling irregularities to ensure his
victory. The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) announced late on
Wednesday that more than 50 percent of eligible voters had participated in
the referendum, and of those 98 percent were in Musharraf's favour to
continue in office to carry out his promised reforms. However, Musharraf's
critics challenged this claim, saying the voter turnout was less than five
percent, and that the authorities had stamped "yes" on the ballots.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=27579&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN
PAKISTAN: Focus on tribal reforms
Sitting in his mosque's hujra, or guest-room, 65-year-old Maulana Nur
Muhammad wields tremendous authority in his area without holding any
public office. He is the imam, or prayer leader, in a mosque in Wana, one
of the most remote towns in western Pakistan's Federally Administered
Tribal Areas (FATA). The area will soon be gradually integrated with the
rest of the country through a reform package - something many believe is
long overdue. "This will have positive results and might end our
century-long isolation," Muhammad told IRIN. "We have been portrayed as
wild wolves by successive regimes, resulting in much exploitation, and
deterring our development," he maintained.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=27514&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN
AFGHANISTAN: NGO concerned over security in the south
Aid workers in southern Afghanistan have expressed concern over what they
describe as deteriorating security conditions, which, they say, could
place a limit on the number of agencies working in that region. "We have a
number of offices in rural areas, and have had to curtail travel to them
for international staff," South Asia director for the US based Mercy Corps
NGO, Jim White, told IRIN from the southern Afghan province of Kandahar.
There have been increased robberies and killings, mostly against local
Afghans, according to White. "Its not clear who is behind this, but we are
being extra careful," he said, adding that groups of people were taking
advantage during the interim authority period. "We are concerned about the
safety of local people too," he maintained.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=27582&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN
AFGHANISTAN: Turkey agrees to take ISAF command
The Turkish government has formally announced its decision to assume
command of Afghanistan's International Security and Assistance Force
(ISAF). The UN-mandated peacekeeping force is a critical component of
international efforts to assist the beleaguered country on the road to
peace and reconstruction. "The government has officially agreed to take
over the ISAF command," foreign ministry spokesman, Huseyin Dirioz told
IRIN from the Turkish capital Ankara on Wednesday. "The date of the
takeover is now being discussed with our partner countries," he explained.
His comments follow a cabinet statement on Monday stating Turkey would
assume command of the 5,000-strong force from Britain for six months.
While no exact handover date was given, according to a communiqué issued
afterwards, this would be established after further negotiations with the
United Nations and representatives of countries making up ISAF.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=27566&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN
AFGHANISTAN: Food aid reaches flood victims
Food aid has been distributed to half those badly affected by last week's
flash floods in the northwestern Afghan province of Badghis, an aid worker
for the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC), told IRIN on
Tuesday. "We know that there may be some people stuck in more remote
areas, but those who are visible and have lost everything in the area have
been reached," the communications coordinator for ICRC, Jean Pascal Moret,
said in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad. A total of six deaths have been
confirmed following the heavy flooding in the Qaleh-ye Now area of
Badghis. "Most of the bazar was washed away, and extensive damage has also
been caused to land," Moret explained.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=27535&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN
AFGHANISTAN: Repatriation tops 400,000
The campaign to facilitate the voluntary return of hundreds of thousands
of Afghan refugees reached a new milestone on Monday when the combined
number of Afghans returning from Pakistan and Iran reached 400,000. The
joint repatriation programmes, between the office of the United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Pakistani and Iranian
governments, aim to assist 800,000 return to Afghanistan this year. "More
than 20,000 Afghans a week are repatriating from Pakistan," the acting
UNHCR spokesman, Aslam Denarzai, told IRIN in the Pakistani capital,
Islamabad. "I expect the 400,000 mark to be crossed this weekend," he
maintained. But the cumulative number of Afghan refugees who had
repatriated from Pakistan and Iran, the two countries hosting the greatest
number of them - about four million - had already surpassed that figure.
As of Monday, 385,313 Afghans have been repatriated from Pakistan and
23,050 from Iran.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=27533&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN
CENTRAL ASIA: Humanitarian goods transport to be facilitated
A meeting of transport officials of the regional countries in the Uzbek
capital, Tashkent, has agreed to facilitate transport of humanitarian
relief goods in the Central Asian region, particularly aimed at helping
neighbouring Afghanistan, an official told IRIN. The two-day conference of
the Intergovernmental Commission of TRACECA (Transport Corridor Europe
Caucasus Asia), which concluded on Thursday, decided to look into visa
regulations, sea transportation, and ways of facilitating the transport of
humanitarian aid in the region. It also entrusted a working group to
harmonise tariffs for sea transport and to improve the navigation systems
for Caspian and Black Seas.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=27534&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=CENTRAL_ASIA
CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly News Wrap
In a bid to boost humanitarian work in Central Asia, a meeting of regional
transport officials in the Uzbek capital, Tashkent, agreed to facilitate
transport of humanitarian relief goods, particularly aimed at helping
neighbouring Afghanistan. The two-day conference of the Intergovernmental
Commission of TRACECA (Transport Corridor Europe Caucasus Asia), which
ended on 25 April, also decided to look into visa regulations, sea
transportation, and ways of facilitating the transport of humanitarian aid
in the region. It also entrusted a working group to harmonise tariffs for
sea transport and to improve navigation on the Caspian and Black Seas.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=27592&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=CENTRAL_ASIA
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