Weekly Round-Up - IRINCAS-63: 21-Jun-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
Tel: +92-51-2211451 Ext 484
Fax: +92-51-2211 450
e-mail: irin@irin.org.pk
Central Asia
IRIN-CA Weekly Round-up 63
14 - 21 June 2002
CONTENTS
U N I T E D N A T I O N S
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Integrated Regional Information Network
AFGHANISTAN: NGOs call for extension of ISAF mandate
AFGHANISTAN: Turkey takes over ISAF command
AFGHANISTAN: Karzai announces cabinet
AFGHANISTAN: UNHCR renews calls for greater assistance on World Refugee Day
AFGHANISTAN: Mixed reaction to Karzai's speech
AFGHANISTAN: Loya Jirga delegates hopeful for democratic revival
CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly News Wrap 21/6
KAZAKHSTAN: UNHCR reports presence of 20,000 refugees
KAZAKHSTAN: Focus on economic struggles in the north
KYRGYZSTAN: Focus on conflict prevention in Fergana valley
AFGHANISTAN: NGOs call for extension of ISAF mandate
Concerned over deteriorating security, international NGOs working in
Afghanistan sent a stern letter on Thursday to the United Nations Security
Council calling for an expansion of the International Security Assistance
Force (ISAF) into the north of the country. "We, the NGO members of the
Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief (ACBAR), urge your support for
the expansion of International Security Assistance Force to northern
Afghanistan. Until a sufficiently large, equipped and trained national
army is in place, expanding ISAF offers the only practical hope of a
non-partisan security force in such areas," the letter said.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28446&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN
AFGHANISTAN: Turkey takes over ISAF command
Turkey has taken over command of the UN-mandated multinational
peacekeeping force - the International Security and Assistance Force
(ISAF) - in a colourful military ceremony in the Afghan capital, Kabul.
"This is important, and we are happy to take over command as the leading
nation of ISAF," the spokesman for the Turkish contingent, Col Samet Oz,
told IRIN on Thursday. "The handover reflects the confidence of the UN and
the international community in Turkey."
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28423&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN
AFGHANISTAN: Karzai announces cabinet
Afghanistan's newly elected President Hamid Karzai announced 18 key posts
of his cabinet before the concluding session of the Loya Jirga, or grand
council, on Wednesday evening on the last day of the nine day long
assembly. The Shura-e Nazar faction of the Northern Alliance got the
lion's share again by retaining the ministries of defence and foreign
affairs, which were retained by Qasim Fahim and Dr Abdullah Abdullah. Taj
Muhammad Wardak, an ethnic Pashtun governor of the eastern Paktia
Province, replaced the erstwhile interior minister Yunus Qanuni, who was
designated as the new minister for education.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28421&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN
AFGHANISTAN: UNHCR renews calls for greater assistance on World Refugee
Day
As the United Nations marks World Refugee Day on Thursday, the flood of
Afghans coming home continues to astound aid workers. Renewing his call
for greater donor assistance, the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) said in less than four months, the world's largest
repatriation and rehabilitation effort had assisted the voluntary return
of over one million Afghans. "Fresh contributions of funds and food aid
are urgently needed," UN High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers told
reporters in the Swiss city of Geneva earlier this week. "The new
government of President Karzai urgently needs international support."
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28394&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN
AFGHANISTAN: Mixed reaction to Karzai's speech
The first policy speech delivered by the country's newly elected leader,
Hamid Karzai, on Monday evening, has evoked mixed reactions from the
public in the capital, Kabul. In it he outlined the formation of nine
commissions in an attempt to address some of the major post-war concerns.
"In my opinion people in Afghanistan have matured politically, and they
would not be satisfied with the announcements," Ahmed Wais, a young Afghan
writer, told IRIN on Monday. He maintained that the Loya Jirga, or grand
council, should make all the appointments. "We doubt and are suspicious
about the decisions made away from the Loya Jirga."
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28369&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN
AFGHANISTAN: Loya Jirga delegates hopeful for democratic revival
Despite allegations of harassment, intimidation and bribery, as well a
walk out by many delegates on Monday during the week-long Emergency Loya
Jirga, or grand council, being held in the Afghan capital, Kabul,
participants anticipate a revival of democracy in their country. Babrak
Shinwari, a 55-year-old delegate from the eastern Afghan province of
Nangarhar, told IRIN that national reconciliation had begun in his
homeland, because after 23 years of war and mayhem a representative
gathering of Afghans in itself was a significant change for the better.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28371&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN
CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly News Wrap 21/6
The Tajik president, Emomali Rahmonov, appealed this week to the world's
donor nations for urgent assistance to his country and the Central Asian
region as a whole in an effort to prevent the region from becoming
permanently unstable. Rahmonov was speaking during the opening of an
international conference in the Tajik capital, Dushanbe, to mark the fifth
anniversary of the end of Tajikistan's five year-long civil war that
claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people and left the already
impoverished country facing economic ruin.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28447&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=CENTRAL_ASIA
KAZAKHSTAN: UNHCR reports presence of 20,000 refugees
The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
confirmed the presence in Kazakhstan of about 20,000 refugees from various
regions of the Russian Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and Asia.
Speaking on the occasion of World Refugee Day, the head of the UNHCR
office for Kazakhstan said while the status of refugees in this vast
Central Asian country of 16 million was positive, it was not without
challenges. "One of the many problems facing refugees in this country is
the lack of job opportunities, making them more dependent on international
aid and a burden on Kazakhstan," Abdul Karim Ghoul told IRIN from the
Kazakh commercial capital, Almaty.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28448&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=KAZAKHSTAN
KAZAKHSTAN: Focus on economic struggles in the north
Aidar Samaev is a man who believes in his town. Despite the atmosphere of
dejection hanging over the place, its ugly, cracked tenement buildings,
street after street lined with derelict buildings and factories, and
despite the fact that Semipalatinsk's only claim to fame - or infamy - is
that it was once the site of the Soviet Union's largest nuclear test site,
he still believes that his town can become great again. "Our country is
strong and our town is strong. There is no limit to what we can do here,"
said Samaev as he watched his home football team playing a league match
against a rival team from the west of the country. "Look at our team. Even
they will be great one day, competing against the finest teams in Europe.
We can rebuild our factories and rebuild our industry, we can make our
town an attraction for all the world."
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28448&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=KAZAKHSTAN
KYRGYZSTAN: Focus on conflict prevention in Fergana valley
Sometime in April 1998 - she can't remember the exact date - Anzira
Alinazarova was called out of class and told she was no longer welcome at
the school where she had been teaching for the past 19 years. As a citizen
of neighbouring Kyrgyzstan, she was no longer qualified to teach in
Uzbekistan. "It was as simple as that," said Alinazarova. "One day I was a
teacher and the next I was unemployed. The director told me that if I
wanted to teach at his school, then I would have to get an Uzbek
passport." Seven other teachers of a total of 40, and dozens of students
attending the school were given their marching orders the same day. "I was
a good teacher and very loyal, but without warning I was suddenly fired,"
said Alinazarova. "I was so angry."
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28448&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=KAZAKHSTAN
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