Weekly Round-Up - IRINCAS-81: 18-Oct-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
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Central Asia
IRIN-CA Weekly Round-up 81
12 - 18 October 2002
CONTENTS:
AFGHANISTAN: UN flights to Kabul to resume soon
AFGHANISTAN: Major donor conference ends in Kabul
AFGHANISTAN: 16th century historical site under rehabilitation
AFGHANISTAN: Camerawomen set to make a difference
KAZAKHSTAN: Kofi Annan arrives in Astana
KYRGYZSTAN: Children's media centre works for change
PAKISTAN: Focus on wind-generated power
PAKISTAN: Elections viewed as flawed
PAKISTAN: Focus on rat-children
TAJIKISTAN: OSCE working to resolve tensions in the north
CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap
AFGHANISTAN: UN flights to Kabul to resume soon
UN flights to and from the Afghan capital's main civilian airport are set
to resume after being temporarily diverted to the nearby Bagram military
airport. "I hope that flights will resume very soon on the basis of an
ongoing assessment of security risks," Manoel de Almeida e Silva,
spokesman for the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, told IRIN from
Kabul on Tuesday. His comments follow a three-day temporary suspension of
UN flights taking off and landing at Kabul International Airport, which
became effective on Sunday. The spokesman added that the decision had been
made in response to a recommendation by the International Security and
Assistance Force (ISAF), the multinational force mandated to provide peace
and security in the area, after evaluating security risks.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=30418&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN
AFGHANISTAN: Major donor conference ends in Kabul
A major conference of international aid donors to Afghanistan, aimed at
streamlining the distribution of billions of dollars in pledges and
assistance to reconstruct the country, has ended in the Afghan capital,
Kabul. The three-day conference, has proven a major boost to the Afghan
government's confidence in tackling some of the issues at hand. "We feel
that we have been trying to prove ourselves and the IG (International
Group) meeting was very motivating, as it showed that donors have a lot of
confidence in what we are doing," aid coordination officer for the Afghan
Assistance Coordination Authority in Kabul, Najeeb Azizi told IRIN on
Tuesday.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=30419&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN
AFGHANISTAN: 16th century historical site under rehabilitation
Work has begun to rehabilitate and preserve one of Afghanistan's most
historical sites to its original splendour. The tomb of the 16th century
Mogul emperor, Babur, and the grounds surrounding it in the Afghan capital
Kabul, are to be restored to their former glory by Afghans themselves,
with help from the Aga Khan Foundation and the United Nations Development
Programme's (UNDP) Recovery and Employment Afghanistan Programme (REAP),
funded by the Japanese government. "Historically, this site is important
to the people of Kabul as a picnic site on the holy day of Friday. We
wanted to make it a more pleasant place for them to use," a programme
assistant, Soraya Narfeldt, told IRIN at the famous site in the city's
Gozarga area.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=30389&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN
AFGHANISTAN: Camerawomen set to make a difference
For the first time ever in the history of Afghan television, women are
being trained to use video cameras in the capital, Kabul. Under a one-year
training programme at the AINA media and culture centre set up by
primarily French journalists in Kabul, 20 women will be taught how to use
a digital video camera and film for news, magazine programmes and
documentaries. Some of the women are journalists working for the Afghan
media. Mehria Azizi, aged 17, a children's presenter on Kabul TV said she
wanted to be a good all round journalist. "I want to be able to film my
own stories about children," she told IRIN.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=30488&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN
KAZAKHSTAN: Kofi Annan arrives in Astana
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan arrived in the Kazakh capital, Astana, on
Thursday, as part of a 12-day tour of Central Asia. This is his first
official visit to Kazakhstan, a vast country of almost 17 million people.
According to a UN press statement from Astana, the two-day visit envisages
meetings with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, as well as senior
government officials. During the course of the visit, it is expected that
there will be discussions on matters of mutual interest, including the
strengthening of international and regional security.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=30466&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=KAZAKHSTAN
KYRGYZSTAN: Children's media centre works for change
"It is the best opportunity we have to express ourselves," says Rustam
Abykeev, a 17-year-old student-cum-journalist at the Children's Media
Centre (CMC) in the capital, Bishkek. "There are no other press outlets
that deal with children's issues and problems," adds his 15-year-old
colleague, Anne Donenko. "[Through our reporting] we let other children
see they are not alone." The CMC is the brain-child of Galina Gaparova, a
determined woman who had previously been running a childrens' literature
shop, where children wrote and illustrated their own high-quality books.
Her life dream, she told IRIN, was always to "open my own children's
publishing house. [Starting and leading the CMC] is the total result of
all of my dreams and work."
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=30440&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=KYRGYZSTAN
PAKISTAN: Focus on wind-generated power
Three different organisations in Pakistan are currently conducting
feasibility studies on wind-powered electricity generation. These are: the
Pakistan Council of Renewable Energy Technologies (Pacret), the country's
meteorological office, and the UN-led Commercialisation of Wind Power
Potential in Pakistan (CWPPP). All three have different approaches to the
issue, but the bottom line remains the same: whether or not windmill
energy is a viable commercial option for the hundreds of thousands of
people living in abject poverty in the 1,120-km long coastal areas of
Pakistan, too remote for the main power grid to light up their lives.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=30469&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN
PAKISTAN: Elections viewed as flawed
After three years of military rule, Pakistan's national elections last
week, which produced a hung parliament, are being described by both
domestic and international observers as flawed. "This general election
does not represent the people's will to shape their political future,"
Afrasiab Khattak, head of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP)
that independently observed the process, told IRIN. "Keeping in view the
pre-poll manipulation, harassment and intimidation of the opponents of the
military regime, and the complaints of rigging on election day, this is a
confident conclusion," he said.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=30399&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN
PAKISTAN: Focus on rat-children
Punching and slapping herself in the face, Nadia, commonly known as a
rat-child, sat swaying in front of a begging box outside the Dola Shah
shrine in the Punjabi city of Gujrat. She is just one of thousands of
abnormal or deformed children in the country who are abandoned to
destitution. Arriving daily at the shrine at the crack of dawn, Nadia, who
is mentally disturbed, doesn't speak to anyone. She wails and has
occasional fits of laughter. Anyone who tries to get close to her is
physically pushed away as she swears and screams at them.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=30390&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN
TAJIKISTAN: OSCE working to resolve tensions in the north
The Organisation of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) is helping
to defuse tensions in Tajikistan's northern province of Sughd -
particularly in Isfara District - between the secular authorities and
Tajik Islamists, who are partners in government after the end of the civil
war in 1997. "We are maintaining contacts with and facilitating dialogue
and confidence-building between the political forces in the country," Marc
Gilbert, the head of the OSCE in Tajikistan, told IRIN from the Tajik
capital, Dushanbe, on Wednesday.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=30465&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=TAJIKISTAN
CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap
In Central Asia this week, a one-day summit of the 10 heads of states of
the Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO) ended in the Turkish city of
Istanbul on Monday. The leaders expressed their determination to
strengthen multifaceted relations in the areas of trade, communications,
energy, minerals, environment, agriculture, industry and drug control,
thereby boosting regional stability.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=30489&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=CENTRAL_ASIA
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