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 75
31 August - 06 September 2002


CONTENTS:

AFGHANISTAN: Security beefed up after attacks
AFGHANISTAN: UN human rights team in Mazar-e Sharif to discuss mass graves
AFGHANISTAN: Census preparations under way
PAKISTAN: Activists hail gang-rape verdict
IRAN: Repatriation through Milak remains suspended
IRAN: WFP praises government's humanitarian contribution
KAZAKHSTAN: Condemnation of ill-treatment of journalists continues
TURKMENISTAN: Amnesty moves to stop deportation of Turkmen dissident
TAJIKISTAN: OSCE hails exit visa abolition

ALSO SEE:

AFGHANISTAN: Focus on introduction of new currency at
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=29720

AFGHANISTAN: Focus on the revival of Afghan sport at
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=29648

AFGHANISTAN: Interview with the head of Human Rights Commission at
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=29669

AFGHANISTAN: Interview with the governor of Khowst at
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=29647

IRAN: Interview with Afghan Ambassador Ahmad Mushahid at
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=29724

CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly News Wrap at
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=29743


AFGHANISTAN: Security beefed up after attacks

Afghan authorities and the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF)
jointly stepped up security in the capital, Kabul, on Friday, a day after
the deadly bombing there, and an assassination attempt on President Hamid
Karzai in the southern city of Kandahar, officials told IRIN. Karzai
escaped an attempt on his life in Kandahar just a few hours after the car
bomb blast in Kabul on Thursday. Three people, including the suspected
attacker, were killed in the assassination attempt. Karzai had gone to
Kandahar to attend his brother's wedding. "This new development in
terrorist activities is of great concern to the security forces of the
transitional authority," an ISAF spokesman, Simon Rayan, said following
the incidents. "We have been informed by the Afghan authorities that 26
people have been killed and 150 injured [in the Kabul blast]." [Full
report at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=29740; also see:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=29728]

AFGHANISTAN: UN human rights team in Mazar-e Sharif to discuss mass graves

A UN team comprising human rights advisers to the UN Assistance Mission in
Afghanistan left for the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e Sharif on Tuesday
to discuss the issue of mass graves with the local Afghan authorities.
"Basically it's not an investigation," a spokesman for the UN, David
Singh, told IRIN in the capital, Kabul, on Tuesday. "It's a follow-up to
the Dostum and Atta statement."  Gen Abdul Rashid Dostum and Gen Atta,
powerful factional leaders controlling northern Afghanistan, issued a
statement last week denying deliberately killing Taliban prisoners, but
admitting that some 200 Taliban prisoners might have died of wounds
received during fighting. Hundreds of Taliban and Al-Qaeda prisoners
reportedly suffocated in shipping containers. [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=29698]

AFGHANISTAN: Census preparations under way

Preparations are under way to begin the first ever-comprehensive
population census in Afghanistan with the first batch of field workers to
be dispatched soon. "This will provide a database for reconstruction of
the country," Laurie Lewis, a consultant with the United Nations
Population Fund (UNFPA) told IRIN in Kabul on Monday. Upon completion, the
census would produce a wide range of information covering each individual
in the country, including their age and sex, as well as their social and
economic background characteristics, he said. [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=29656]

PAKISTAN: Activists hail gang-rape verdict

Pakistani rights groups on Monday hailed the verdict of a local court
giving the death sentence to six men who had gang-raped a woman on a
decision of a village jury, but have urged the government to take concrete
steps to eliminate extrajudicial tribunals. "In this individual case, it's
a positive step, because local bullies were brought to justice," the
chairman of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Afrasiab Khattak,
told IRIN from Peshawar, the capital of North West Frontier Province.
[Full report: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=29650]

IRAN: Repatriation through Milak remains suspended

Efforts to repatriate Afghan refugees through the southern Iranian border
crossing of Milak remain suspended pending security concerns arising from
a recent shooting incident, the office of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Iran has confirmed. Meanwhile, those
scheduled to be repatriated through Milak will instead return through the
main border crossing at Dogharun in the northeastern province of Khorasan,
where operations continue unaffected.  "Operations at Milak will resume
when security is ensured and adequate logistical arrangements are put in
place," the UNHCR chief of mission, Philippe Lavanchy, told IRIN from the
Iranian capital, Tehran, on Thursday. [Full report at: [Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=29723]

IRAN: WFP praises government's humanitarian contribution

The World Food Programme (WFP) on Tuesday praised the government of Iran
for its significant contribution in providing a major humanitarian aid
corridor into Afghanistan.  "The use of the highly cost-effective Iran
corridor and the excellent cooperation WFP received from the government of
the Islamic Republic of Iran played a vital role in delivering life-saving
food into Afghanistan on time to avert famine," the WFP deputy director
for the Mediterranean, Middle East, and Central Asia, Mohamed Diab, told
IRIN from the Egyptian capital, Cairo. [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=29670]

KAZAKHSTAN: Condemnation of ill-treatment of journalists continues

Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF), a French group protecting the rights of
journalists, has condemned the recent attack on a prominent Kazakh
journalist in Almaty, calling for a full investigation. "We want to know
exactly what happened and who is responsible," the head of RSF's European
desk, Soria Blatmann, told IRIN from Paris. The group has sent a press
release to the Kazakh embassy in Paris as well as to the Kazakh president
himself. Sergei Duvanov, who writes for opposition-based websites, was
severely beaten up late last week. [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=29699]

TURKMENISTAN: Amnesty moves to stop deportation of Turkmen dissident

Amnesty International (AI) has called on the Kazakh government not to
deport a leading Turkmen dissident back to Turkmenistan. Gulgeldi
Annanyyazov was one of the so-called "Ashgabat Eight", who were serving
long prison terms after being convicted of criminal offences - some
involving violence - arising from their participation in an unprecedented
anti-government protest in the Turkmen capital, Ashgabat, on 12 July 1995.
"If he is deported, he will be at grave risk of torture. This is our
immediate and main concern," AI's campaigner for Central Asia and South
Caucuses, Anna Sunder-Plassman, told IRIN from London on Wednesday. [Full
report at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=29695]

TAJIKISTAN: OSCE hails exit visa abolition

The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has hailed
a recent government decision abolishing the need for exit visas for
Tajiks, thereby enabling citizens of the tiny Central Asian nation to move
more freely. "This is a real sign that Tajikistan is opening up," OSCE
Ambassador Marc Gilbert told IRIN from the capital, Dushanbe. "It's of
high symbolic value, because freedom of movement will help Tajikistan to
enter the world's mainstream, from which it has so long been separated,"
he said, adding that the decision fully complied with international
obligations endorsed by Tajikistan. [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=29669]


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