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 42
19 - 25 January 2002


CONTENTS

AFGHANISTAN: UN Secretary General urges people's cooperation
AFGHANISTAN: Commission to appoint interim government formed
AFGHANISTAN: UNHCR welcomes new refugee accord
AFGHANISTAN: Newspaper back on the streets after five years
AFGHANISTAN: Calls for expanded international security presence
AFGHANISTAN: Agriculture to play pivotal role in rehabilitation
AFGHANISTAN: Focus on return of qualified Afghans
AFGHANISTAN: Banditry hampering relief efforts
AFGHANISTAN: Interview with Minister of Women's Affairs
AFGHANISTAN: Aid workers welcome Salang tunnel reopening
AFGHANISTAN: Poppy ban welcomed by UN drug control agency
AFGHANISTAN: Security improving in Kabul
AFGHANISTAN: Focus on the demand for education
AFGHANISTAN: Tokyo conference welcomed with cautious optimism
PAKISTAN: Multiple movements of Afghans reported: UNHCR
KAZAKHSTAN: Government to contribute to Afghan reconstruction
UZBEKISTAN: Focus on the health impact of the Aral Sea crisis

________________________________________________________________________________


AFGHANISTAN: UN Secretary General urges people's cooperation

United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan called on Afghans on Friday to
support the interim administration and the international community in
helping to rebuild Afghanistan. "I urge the Afghan people to support the
interim administration and the international community to rebuild
Afghanistan," the Secretary General told a news conference in the Afgan
capital Kabul. Annan addressed the press accompanied by Hamid Karzai,
chairman of the Interim Authority. The Secretary General started a three
day tour of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran soon after attending a
conference in Tokyo where up to US $4.5 billion were pledged for
Afghanistan's reconstruction. The Secretary General said there was a need
for the reconstruction process to start soon and for the funds to be made
available as early as possible.

Full report
atwww.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=20079&SelectRegion=East_Africa&SelectCounty=AFGHANISTAN


AFGHANISTAN: Commission to appoint interim government formed

In another step towards the formation of a government, Afghanistan's
interim leader Hamid Karzai announced the composition of a 21-member
Special Independence Commission at a joint press conference with UN
Secretary General Kofi Annan on Friday. The commission will be responsible
for convening a 'Loya Jirga' or grand council that will in turn appoint a
two-year transitional government for Afghanistan. "This is a real
impartial commission," said Karzai, who was speaking from Kabul where he
was hosting a visit by Kofi Annan. Karzai said the composition of the Loya
Jirga had been agreed in conjunction with the UN from a list of 300
people, which his administration had initially provided. The commission
will be headed by Mohammad Ismail Qasimyar, a noted Afghan jurist, and
will organise the calling of the Loya Jirga in six months time.

Full Report
atwww.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=20080&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCounry=AFGHANISTAN


AFGHANISTAN: UNHCR welcomes new refugee accord

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Friday
praised this week's agreement with Afghanistan's new Interim
Administration on a wide-ranging plan to assist hundreds of thousands of
Afghan refugees and internally displaced persons return home this year.
Final cabinet approval of the plan, expected in coming weeks, may include
an amnesty for returnees. "This agreement provides us with a willing
partner," UNHCR spokesman, Yusuf Hassan told IRIN in the Pakistani capital
Islamabad. "This understanding with the interim authorities demonstrates a
common recognition and desire to facilitate the return of Afghans back to
their homeland and their reintegration into society," he explained.
Hassan's comments follow discussions on Wednesday in the Afghan capital
Kabul between Afghan Repatriation Minister, Enyatulah Nazir and UNHCR
officials on the return home of 3.5 million refugees in Iran and Pakistan
and an estimated 1.3 internally displaced Afghans inside the country.

Full report
atwww.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=20020&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCounry=AFGHANISTAN


AFGHANISTAN: Newspaper back on the streets after five years

"Be quiet Afghans, international funds are coming" read the caption of a
cartoon showing a monster of high prices eating poor people, while a man
hushes them into silence looking towards the foreign aid. The cartoon was
on the front page of the Kabul Weekly, an independent newspaper that
appeared for the first time on Thursday in the Afghan capital after being
banned in the winter of 1996, the year the ousted Taliban captured the
city. "We are committed to objective journalism," its editor Fahim Dashy
told IRIN. On Thursday 2,500 copies of the weekly, with parts in English,
French, Dari and Pashto languages, were distributed. Dashy's weekly has
promised to work for democracy, defend human rights, combat terrorism, and
publish authentic and impartial news.

Full report
atwww.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=20002&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCounry=AFGHANISTAN


AFGHANISTAN: Calls for expanded international security presence

A senior UN official said on Thursday that war-ravaged Afghanistan needed
a larger international security force to be deployed throughout the
unstable nation. "It is important for the international security force,
which has started doing good work in Kabul, to expand," Francesc Vendrell,
deputy to the UN Secretary-General's special envoy to Afghanistan Lakhdar
Brahimi, told IRIN in Kabul. Vendrell, rounding up his assignment at the
United Nations Special Mission for Afghanistan (UNSMA), said a larger
force across the country would help facilitate neutrality during the
selection of members of the Loya Jirga (grand council) - the next step in
the Bonn process. He declined to give an exact number of international
troops that would be required for such a daunting and risky task. "It is
obviously going to be much larger than 5,000," he said.

Full report
atwww.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=19994&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCounry=AFGHANISTAN


AFGHANISTAN: Agriculture to play pivotal role in rehabilitation

The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has launched a US $39
million appeal for agricultural rehabilitation in Afghanistan as part of
US $1.3 billion needed to meet the country's immmediate needs. The appeal
was made on the closing day of the ministerial conference on Afghanistan
in Japan's capital Tokyo. "Some 85 percent of Afghans live in rural areas
and their livelihoods are associated to agriculture," Cyril Ferrand, FAO
deputy emergency coordinator for Afghanistan told IRIN on Tuesday in
Pakistan's capital Islamabad. "Rehabilitation of agriculture would
contribute to significant improvements in their livelihoods," he
explained. An FAO press statement on Monday said that peace and long-term
economic stability in the country should be built on the restoration of
productive agriculture.

Full report
atwww.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=19829&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCounry=AFGHANISTAN


AFGHANISTAN: Focus on return of qualified Afghans

Reeling from drought, poverty and decades of war, Afghanistan is hardly
the place to enjoy the golden years of one's life. But for Abdul Hamid
Mobarez, a 70 year-old Afghan intellectual, nationalist, writer and former
journalist, returning to his country after years abroad couldn't be more
natural. Just hours before he boarded a UN flight to Kabul on Tuesday, he
told IRIN why he was returning to Afghanistan - and why now, more than
ever, others should follow. "Afghans have no reason to stay in a foreign
country now that there is peace in our homeland," Mobarez said. "All
professional Afghans should return. Your country needs you now more than
ever."

Full report
atwww.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=19830&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCounry=AFGHANISTAN


AFGHANISTAN: Banditry hampering relief efforts

Following the establishment of an interim government after the fall of the
hardline Taliban - notoriuosly tough on crime - incidents of banditry have
been reported in northern Afghanistan, impeding relief efforts in the
area, aid workers told IRIN on Tuesday. According to WFP, armed ethnic
Uzbeks stole up to 40 mt of food aid intended for the predominantly
Pashtun drought-affected population in the Qaiser area of northern Faryab
province on Thursday after beating up aid agency staff and smashing
vehicles. "The bandits are using ethnic tensions as a pretext for
looting," spokesman for the World Food Programme (WFP) Khalid Mansour told
IRIN in Pakistan's capital Islamabad. WFP and its partners distributed
some 700 mt of food in the area prior to the attack.

Full report
athttp://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=19828&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelctCountry=AFGHANISTAN


AFGHANISTAN: Interview with Sima Samar, Minister of Women's Affairs

After a month in power, Afghanistan's new Women's Affairs Minister, Sima
Samar told IRIN in the capital Kabul that while some men were beginning to
wake up to women's rights there remained a great deal of work to be done.
Returning from the United States after nearly a decade, the
doctor-turned-politician is also deputy chair of the interim
administration.

Full report
atwww.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=19773&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCounry=AFGHANISTAN


AFGHANISTAN: Aid workers welcome Salang tunnel reopening

Aid workers have welcomed the reopening of the strategic Salang tunnel
connecting northern and southern parts of central Afghanistan, some 80 km
north of the capital Kabul in the Hindu Kush mountains. Spokesman for
World food Programme (WFP), Kahild Mansur told IRIN on Monday in
Pakistan's capital Islamabad that the reopening would dramatically reduce
traveling time between north and south of the country. "It used to take
two to three days, now it takes one day to travel from Kabul in the south
to Mazar-e Sahrif in the north, " he said. The Salang tunnel was
officially reopened on Saturday when a Russian aid convoy passed through
it. The tunnel was blown up by retreating Northern Alliance forces
following the fall of the capital Kabul to the Taliban in 1996.

Full report
atwww.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=19671&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCounry=AFGHANISTAN


AFGHANISTAN: Poppy ban welcomed by UN drug control agency

The United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention (ODCCP) on
Monday welcomed last week's decision by Afghanistan's new interim
government to ban all poppy cultivation. "We welcome this ban on the
cultivation, production and trafficking of poppy and we look forward to
working with the interim administration," Thomas Zeindl, ODCCP officer in
charge told IRIN in the Pakistani capital Islamabad. Zeindl's comments
follow Wednesday's announcement by the leader of the new Interim
Administration in Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, effectively banning the
production, processing and trafficking of drugs such as opium and all of
its ingredients.

Full report
atwww.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=19581&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCounry=AFGHANISTAN


AFGHANISTAN: Security improving in Kabul

The security situation in the Afghan capital has improved over the past
week since the interim authority banned armed elements from the streets of
the city, a UN security officer in Kabul told IRIN. Although initially the
interim authority was not in complete control of security, the disarming
of people on the streets had made a difference, he explained. Most of the
people on the streets with guns were the security forces and there were
now very few that were not part of this force, he maintained. Since the
fall of the Taliban, however, there has been a rash of reported robberies,
thefts and even murders in the capital city, none of which involved
foreigners.

Full report
atwww.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=19561&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCounry=AFGHANISTAN


AFGHANISTAN: Focus on the demand for education

When eight year-old Madina walked into the Abdul Hadi Dawi school in Kabul
three weeks ago, it was the first time ever she had entered a school.
"I'm so happy to be here and I've made so many friends," she told IRIN
as she eagerly practiced writing in Dari, one of the official languages of
Afghanistan. With a growing number of parents demanding education for
their children after the fall of the Taliban, young Madina is just one of
thousands of Afghan children clamouring for a chance to attend school.
During the Taliban's hard-line regime when girls were banned from school,
such hope would have been unthinkable. Families now more than ever want
that dream fulfilled.

Full report
atwww.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=19625&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCounry=AFGHANISTAN


AFGHANISTAN: Tokyo conference welcomed with cautious optimism

Afghans expressed cautious optimism over the rebuilding of their
war-ravaged country following the opening of a major donor conference on
Afghanistan that began in Tokyo on Monday. Representatives of some 60
countries along with major international organisations and NGOs are
attending the two-day event."If [Hamid] Karzai returns home with money, it
will boost the morale of Afghans and they will be more optimistic about
future," Idress Zaman, programme manager with Agency for Rehabilitation
and Energy conservation in Afghanistan (AREA), an Afghan NGO, told IRIN.
While Afghans were positive, they feared the collapse of the new
government if money was not injected quickly, Zaman said. "The interim
administration had estimated US$ 45 billion as the reconstruction cost but
I believe that any estimates should be based on elaborate planning," he
explained. International donors had pledged more than US $4.5 billion in
reconstruction aid for Afghanistan by the time the Tokyo conference closed
on Tuesday.

Full report
atwww.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=19642&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCounry=AFGHANISTAN


PAKISTAN: Multiple movements of Afghans reported: UNHCR

The multiple movement of Afghans leaving and entering Pakistan has been
continuing, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) told
IRIN on Thursday. Pakistan shares almost 2,500 km of porous border with
Afghanistan, a country suffering from the twin scourges of war and the
worst drought in living memory. Of the 16,934 Afghans who entered Pakistan
through the southern province of Baluchistan over the past three weeks,
13,000 were registered at the Killi Faizo transit centre adjacent to the
Chaman border post and transferred to the Dara and Lani Karez refugee
camps. At the same time, more than 58,000 spontaneously returned home from
Pakistan. According to agency figures, 33,365 originated from Baluchistan,
while more than 24,672 left Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP)
by way of the Torkham border crossing between 16 and 22 January.

Full report
atwww.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=20004&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCounry=PAKISTAN


KAZAKHSTAN: Government to contribute to Afghan reconstruction

The Republic of Kazakhstan will contribute to the reconstruction effort
currently under way in Afghanistan, news agencies reported on Tuesday.
According to a document circulated by the Kazakh delegation at the Tokyo
conference on rebuilding Afghanistan, the republic will supply 3,000 mt of
food aid in the form of wheat, and offer its territory for the storage and
transit of relief supplies. In addition, Kazakhstan said it would provide
assistance in the form of experts to help in the development of farming,
transport, irrigation and the gas industry. According to the report, the
vast Central Asian country plans to become a major wheat supplier to
Afghanistan, having already arranged to supply 70,000 mt of the commodity
to the country. Kazakhstan is also exploring the possibility of sending
troops to Afghanistan within the framework of a peacekeeping contingent.
Bomb disposal, communications and medical specialists could also be sent,
the document said. The Tokyo conference ended on Tuesday with a commitment
from participating nations to contribute US $4.5 billion towards
rebuilding Afghanistan.

Full report
atwww.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=19913&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCounry=KAZAKSTAN


UZBEKISTAN: Focus on the health impact of the Aral Sea crisis

The ecological disaster caused by the shrinking Aral Sea in Central Asia,
continues to seriously affect the health of millions of people in
Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, and the northern Uzbek region of Karakalpakstan.
The Aral Sea is now just a third of its original size following Soviet
attempts to divert the rivers that fed it for irrigation purposes. "In the
past 15 to 20 years, we have witnessed a worsening of the situation for
people living around the Aral Sea," Dr Oral Ataniyazova, deputy of the
Karakalpak parliament in the regional capital Nukus, told IRIN. Given the
increased salt and pollutant content in the air and soil, as the sea
shrinks, the rate of tuberculosis, anemia, cancer and birth defects have
all increased, she explained. Epidemics and respiratory diseases continue
to threaten people living in the area.

Full report
atwww.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=19532&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCounry=UZBEKISTAN


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