Weekly Round-Up - IRINCAS-64: 28-Jun-02
U N I T E D N A T I O N S
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
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Central Asia
IRIN-CA Weekly Round-up 64
22 - 28 June 2002
CONTENTS:
AFGHANISTAN: Optimistic returnees face daunting challenges
AFGHANISTAN: Programmes continue despite insecurity in the north
AFGHANISTAN: Interview with Central Bank Governor
AFGHANISTAN: Arms depot blast kills at least 19
AFGHANISTAN: Aid workers need more cultural sensitivity
IRAN: Tehran welcomes international quake assistance
IRAN: AIDS awareness to include schools
PAKISTAN: USAID back after nearly a decade
CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly News Wrap
AFGHANISTAN: Optimistic returnees face daunting challenges
Packed into brightly coloured trucks, tractors, pick-ups and buses,
thousands of Afghans throng the Pol-e Charkhi returnee centre about 15 km
east of the capital, Kabul. In the week that the UN announced that more
than a million refugees in Pakistan had signed up for repatriation,
sixty-year-old Mamo Gula, who had made it to Pol-e Charkhi along with her
four grand children from Pakistan's capital, Islamabad, told IRIN they
were happy to be back. "I am pleased - at least I will be buried in my own
soil," she said.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28531&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN
AFGHANISTAN: Programmes continue despite insecurity in the north
Female aid workers are continuing field missions in northern Afghanistan
under heavy security, a UN official told IRIN on Thursday. Earlier, some
NGOs had considered pulling out of the region and had stopped female staff
from venturing out following the rape of an international staff member
working for an aid agency in the area several weeks ago. A national media
campaign was launched last week by aid agencies following deteriorating
security conditions to publicise the extent of assistance being provided
for more than two million people in the country's war-ravaged northern
regions.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28532&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN
AFGHANISTAN: Interview with Central Bank Governor
Dr Anwar-ul-Haq Ahady, the new governor of Afghanistan's central bank, Da
Afghanistan Bank, is facing a daunting challenge. With hardly any
infrastructure and an economy in ruins, he has to build a modern banking
system in the war-ravaged, landlocked Central Asian country. Ahady only
took up his post a couple of months ago, before returning to Afghanistan
he was a professor of political science in the US. In a recent interview
with IRIN he spoke about what is involved in rebuilding Afghanistan's
banking infrastructure. "We have decided to completely change our
banknotes," he said. "Once the security is established on a firm basis,
the economy and economic situation will improve dramatically," Ahady
predicted.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28510&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN
AFGHANISTAN: Arms depot blast kills at least 19
A series of devastating explosions at a weapons depot in southern
Afghanistan early Friday morning has killed at least 19 and injured scores
more, including an employee of the World Food Programme (WFP). "The
explosions started after midnight and went on for a couple of hours," WFP
spokesman, Khalid Mansour told IRIN in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad.
"Two of our huge storing tents collapsed as well as four container
offices," he maintained. Following the initial blast at the arms depot
near the border town of Spin Boldak, some 500 km southwest of the Afghan
capital, reports indicate a rocket hit the food aid warehouse where some
800 mt of food and other supplies were being stored.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28571&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN
AFGHANISTAN: Aid workers need more cultural sensitivity
Clothing worn by some foreign aid workers in conservative Afghanistan
following the fall of the Taliban has been deemed inappropriate by locals
in the country's capital, Kabul. "I feel ashamed when I see half naked
women roaming around. I don't agree with Taliban harshness but some degree
of decency is necessary," maulvi (Islamic priest), Haji Ghulam Hazrat,
told IRIN in Kabul. Under the hard-line rule of the Taliban, Afghan women
were required to wear the all-enveloping burka. Foreign women would
observe the strict dress rules by covering their heads with a scarf and
wore Shalwar Khameez (a long baggy tunic and baggy trousers).
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28467&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN
IRAN: Tehran welcomes international quake assistance
Tehran will welcome all forms of international assistance in the wake of
last weekend's violent earthquake in northwestern Iran, IRIN learnt on
Wedenesday. The quake, resulting in 237 dead and over 1,300 injured, left
thousands of people homeless. His comments follow those of Iranian
President Mohammad Khatami who in a report by the official Iranian News
Agency (IRNA) on the same day said his government would accept all
assistance offered. The President has called for full mobilisation of all
governmental and non-governmental organs to restore quake-hit areas to
normalcy, the report added. Following a visit to the devastated village of
Abdareh - 225 km west of Tehran - in northwest Qazvin province, Khatami
emphasised they were not in need of foodstuff and first aid, but would
appreciate receiving cash and equipment which would enable them to help
the survivors.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28511&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=IRAN
IRAN: AIDS awareness to include schools
As part of the country's national curriculum, Iranian youth may soon be
receiving AIDS awareness education in school. Although no starting date
has been announced, the Ministry of Education has accepted the move as
part of the country's comprehensive effort towards halting the spread of
the disease. While AIDS awareness within the education system was first
introduced in 1999 in high schools and universities, it was not part of
the curriculum - something that may soon change. "The Ministry of
Education has accepted to introduce an education curriculum for students,
but has yet to prepare a programme," Mo'tamedi said.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28490&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=IRAN
IRAN: Relief efforts continue after Saturday's quake
Relief efforts were continuing on Monday after a devastating earthquake
struck northwestern Iran this weekend. The quake, which left hundreds dead
and thousands homeless, registered 6.3 on the Richter scale. According to
the United Nations' Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
(OCHA) on Sunday, the quake resulted in 227 deaths in Qazvin, three in
Hamadan, and at least 1,000 people injured. Some 25,000 people were left
homeless. Iranian military forces reportedly airdropped blankets, food and
medicine to people in the region and were helping residents to set up
shelters.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28468&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=IRAN
PAKISTAN: USAID back after nearly a decade
The US Agency for International Development (USAID) will reopen its office
in Pakistan in July, a senior Pakistani official confirmed to IRIN on
Tuesday, following a meeting between government and US officials in the
capital, Islamabad. "There will be an initial funding of US $25 million
and this figure is likely to be doubled in the future," the official, who
wished to remain anonymous, said. The main areas to be covered by USAID
would be education and health, he added. Tuesday's announcement followed a
meeting between the Pakistani Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz and USAID's
Mark Ward, who will be officially appointed as the new country director
for Pakistan in early July.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28489&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN
CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly News Wrap
New efforts are under way, including a programme involving the United
States and Russia, to safeguard dangerous radioactive material that
terrorists could steal around the world to build a "dirty bomb", the UN
announced on Tuesday. In a report, the UN's International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA) said "uncontrolled radioactive sources are a widespread
phenomenon" in states such as Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan,
Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.
http://www.irinnews.org/Asiafp.asp
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