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 65
29 June - 05 July 2002


CONTENTS:

AFGHANISTAN: UNHCR suspends returns to parts of the north
AFGHANISTAN: Turkish ISAF troops settle in as lead nation
PAKISTAN: Afghan exodus impacts on fragile border economy
PAKISTAN: Aid rolls in as Western cooperation continues
PAKISTAN: Cautious optimism over water levels
PAKISTAN: Girl gang-raped as local punishment
PAKISTAN: Focus on eating disorders
CENTRAL ASIA: World Bank opens new regional office
CENTRAL ASIA: Former Soviet republics polio free
IRAN: US quake assistance arrives
TURKMENISTAN: Special report on water management
TAJIKISTAN: Flooding and landslides lead to evacuation
TAJIKISTAN: Fears over typhoid outbreak



AFGHANISTAN: UNHCR suspends returns to parts of the north

The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
has suspended the return of internally displaced people (IDPs) in parts of
northern Afghanistan due to deteriorating security conditions. "The
factional fighting is not only hampering the return of refugees but is
also sparking new displacement," Yusuf Hassan, the UNCHR spokesman in the
Afghan capital, Kabul, told IRIN on Tuesday. "We are providing them
transport for their return journey and we need to know that they will be
safe when travelling," he added.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28599&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN

AFGHANISTAN: Turkish ISAF troops settle in as lead nation

Turkish forces in the Afghan capital Kabul have fully settled into their
new role as lead nation of the International Security Assistance Force
(ISAF), IRIN learnt on Wednesday. A predominately Muslim nation and member
of NATO, Turkey took command of the UN-mandated multinational force from
Great Britain two weeks ago. "The deployment of Turkish troops is
complete," ISAF spokesman, Colonel Samet Oz told IRIN. 'Some 1,400 Turkish
soldiers have settled in." Charged with assisting the Afghan government in
the maintenance of security in Kabul and its surrounding areas, ISAF
stands as a unique example of so-called peace building operations.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28617&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN

PAKISTAN: Afghan exodus impacts on fragile border economy

Wahid Shah, a bus driver operating on the bustling route between Hayatabad
and Peshawar city in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP), is
worried about his business following the repatriation of Afghan refugees.
"We are devastated, there are no commuters and the vehicles are becoming a
burden," Shah told IRIN. He used to earn about US $15 a day making several
roundtrips on the 20 km long route that connects important business and
residential areas in the city. But after the repatriation of up to a
million Afghans he has lost many passengers. Shah has three buses, but now
he wants to sell two of them because keeping them running is increasingly
difficult. However, finding buyers for his buses might prove a daunting
challenge because they have already lost half of their value and there
seems to be no interest in investing in a shrinking market.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28641&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN

PAKISTAN: Aid rolls in as Western cooperation continues

Pakistan could finally be reaping the financial rewards of its unwavering
support for the US-led war against terrorism. The International Monetary
Fund (IMF) decided on Wednesday to release a US $114 million poverty
reduction loan to the government - part of its overall three-year US $1.37
billion Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) arrangement. This,
according to the IMF website, brings to about US $343 million the amount
of money disbursed so far under the programme. PRGF loans carry an annual
interest rate of 0.5 percent and are repayable over 10 years, with a
five-and-a-half-year grace period on principal payments. However, in
approving the loan, the fund said: "The Executive Board granted a waiver
of Pakistan's non-observance of the quarterly revenue target for the
period that ended March 31, 2002. The shortfall in revenue essentially
reflected continued lower-than-expected imports in the aftermath of
September 2001 events."

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28643&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN

PAKISTAN: Cautious optimism over water levels

With low water levels at dams supplying drinking water to the Pakistani
capital, Islamabad, millions of people are banking on efficient water
management this year in order to avoid the shortages experienced last
year, a water official told IRIN on Monday. The main dams supplying
drinking water to the populous Punjab province are the Simli dam, situated
15 km from the capital, the Khanpur dam, 60 km northwest of Islamabad and
the Rawal dam in the capital. "There are serious concerns over the water
levels of these dams," section officer at Pakistan's Ministry of Water and
Power, Kamran Farooq Ansari said.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28577&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN

PAKISTAN: Girl gang-raped as local punishment

Pakistan's rights groups and even police expressed shock on Tuesday over
the gang-rape of a girl one week ago under a ruling by a tribal jirga, or
village council, in Punjab Province, as a means of punishing her brother.
"The gang-rape of a young woman near Muzaffargarh, as a form of
punishment, apparently ordered by a tribal jirga, is particularly shocking
and presents an alarming picture of the conditions in which so many women
live and the atrocities they face," the Human Rights Commission of
Pakistan (HRCP), said in a statement on Tuesday. It said the HRCP was
especially shocked by the fact that the tribal jirga could have been
allowed to meet, order the gang-rape of a teenaged woman apparently as a
"punishment" for the actions of her brother, and then have this terrible
sentence inflicted in the presence of at least 1,000 people.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28600&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN

PAKISTAN: Focus on eating disorders

With a high flying job at one of Islamabad's five star hotel's, Aliya says
she knows she's not overweight, but is desperate to shed at least another
five kgs, having already lost 14 kgs over the past five months. "I look at
the girls around me and the girls on television, and I want to look like
them too," she told IRIN. The hotel manager is typical of girls and women
of Pakistan's upper middle class society. Despite the poverty and
malnutrition around them, many are obsessed with the way they look,
sometimes leading to eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28638&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN

CENTRAL ASIA: World Bank opens new regional office

The World Bank has opened a new regional office for Central Asia in the
Kazakh city of Almaty. The regional office will assist the bank with
development programmes in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan
and Uzbekistan, according to a press release. "The World Bank has long
understood that sustainable development and poverty reduction are critical
to the people of the region," Dennis de Tray, World Bank Director for
Central Asia, told IRIN from Almaty. Post 11 September, the US had forged
new relations with the Central Asia republics while stressing the
importance of political and economic reforms in the region.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28640&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=CENTRAL_ASIA

CENTRAL ASIA: Former Soviet republics polio free

The international fight against the paralysing disease polio, led by the
World Health Organisation (WHO) is being won in the five Central Asia
countries, though more work needs to be done in neighbouring Afghanistan
and Pakistan. "Afghanistan is far ahead than Pakistan," Lori
Hieber-Giradet, WHO spokeswoman in Kabul, told IRIN. "We have two
confirmed cases of polio in the country; one is in Helmand and the other
in the Nangahar province," she added. WHO officials told IRIN that the
five Central Asian countries - Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan,
Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan -were certified polio-free by the world health
body last week.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28619&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=CENTRAL_ASIA

IRAN: US quake assistance arrives

A US-chartered plane carrying 45 mt of humanitarian assistance for victims
of last week's devastating earthquake in northwestern Iran arrived in the
capital, Tehran, on Tuesday afternoon, a UN official confirmed to IRIN.
This is the first time since the 1979 Islamic revolution that Tehran,
which has no diplomatic ties with Washington, has accepted humanitarian
governmental aid. "This is the first donation that we have received
specifically for our earthquake response," Luc Chauvin, a United Nations
Children's Fund (UNICEF) representative in Tehran, told IRIN. "We welcome
this substantial donation from the US government, which is well needed in
the field," he added. UNICEF will hand over the aid to the Iranian Red
Crescent Society and the Ministry of Interior and monitor its
distribution.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28618&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=IRAN

TURKMENISTAN: Special report on water management

Outside the presidential palace in the Turkmen capital, Ashgabat, the
illusion of plentiful water is everywhere. Hundreds of fountains cascade
throughout the night, many of them illuminated to the delight of evening
strollers. But the facade of such abundance ends there. While the
government has yet to officially acknowledge it, Turkmenistan, in common
with many of its Central Asian neighbours, suffers from a tenuous water
supply. "The problem with Turkmenistan with regard to water - and the
drought in Central Asia - is more a problem of distribution rather than
supply," the European Union (EU) resident adviser for the TACIS programme,
Michael Wilson, told IRIN in Ashgabat. "As there is very little
precipitation, they don't rely on it - it's all irrigation and
distribution of water." TACIS is a EU initiative aiming to build market
economies and democratic societies in the region.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28595&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=TURKMENISTAN

TAJIKISTAN: Flooding and landslides lead to evacuation

The United Nations and other relief agencies are coordinating efforts with
the Tajik authorities to rapidly relocate at least 621 families to a safer
place after their villages were affected by flooding and landslides at the
end of last month. UN officials told IRIN from the Tajik capital, Dushanbe
on Friday, that several floods and landslides in the Aini district in the
northern province of Sughd had affected several communities last month
forcing the government to decide that residents should be moved away to
safer areas. "There are 621 families that have to be moved," Andrea
Recchia, a UN official, told IRIN. The two worst-affected villages have a
total of 1089 families. The remaining families will be shifted to other
areas after the initial target of 621 families relocated is met. The new
relocation points are 21 km and 100 km away from the affected villages.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28662&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=TAJIKISTAN

TAJIKISTAN: Fears over typhoid outbreak

Some 200 people have been hospitalised with suspected Typhoid in the
southern Tajik province of Khatlon following an outbreak in the Bokhtar
district, aid workers told IRIN on Thursday. "Fifty-three cases have been
confirmed and the number could rise," programme coordinator for Merlin, a
UK-based NGO, Davide Zappa, in the Tajik capital, Dushanbe said. Cases
have been identified in six villages situated in the district of Bokhtar
in Khatlon. "One branch of the Bokhtar district canal irrigation system
has been infected by the typhoid bacteria," he explained. As tests
continue on water samples from the area, it was suspected that the spread
of typhoid in the villages was due to contamination of the canal water by
a source not yet determined, according to health experts for the NGO.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28661&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=TAJIKISTAN


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