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Central Asia
IRIN-CA Weekly Round-up 94
11 - 17 January 2003


CONTENTS:

AFGHANISTAN: Chronology of humanitarian and related developments in 2002
AFGHANISTAN: New agricultural early warning system
AFGHANISTAN: Concern over women's education in Herat
AFGHANISTAN: Rural women to benefit from 14 new centres
AFGHANISTAN: Constitutional process proceeding
AFGHANISTAN: NGOs raise concern over Coalition's aid work
AFGHANISTAN: Cold spell kills refugee children
PAKISTAN: Chronology of humanitarian and related developments in 2002
PAKISTAN: Water supplies resume for Afghan refugees
CENTRAL ASIA: Chronology of humanitarian and related developments in 2002
CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap


AFGHANISTAN: Chronology of humanitarian and related developments in 2002

DECEMBER 22, 2001: Hamid Karzai, an ethnic Pashtun who leads one of the
largest tribes in southern Afghanistan, is sworn in as chairman of a
six-month interim government. Karzai faces the task of trying to unite a
country wracked by more than two decades of war and poverty.

JANUARY 1: The number of Afghan refugees spontaneously leaving Iran for
home increases following a significant decline in the second half of
December 2001. Since the start of 2002, over 2,500 have returned to
Afghanistan.

JANUARY 2: The first troops of the multinational International Security
and Assistance Force (ISAF) are deployed in the Afghan capital, Kabul.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=31719&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN

AFGHANISTAN: New agricultural early warning system

With assistance from the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and
the World Food Programme (WFP), Afghanistan will soon have an agricultural
information and early warning system. Overseen by the country's Ministry
of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry and Ministry of Reconstruction and
Rural Development, the system will help the government monitor crops in an
effort to enhance food security. "The objective of the 'Support to Food
Security Surveillance' project - of which the agro-meteorological project
is a part - is to improve conditions of food security amongst the Afghan
people, particularly amongst the most vulnerable segments of the
population, Rabah Mekhol, an FAO agro-meteorologist, told IRIN from the
Afghan capital, Kabul, on Thursday.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=31743&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN

AFGHANISTAN: Concern over women's education in Herat

The Afghan Ministry of Women's Affairs (MOWA) has said it is concerned
that women could be deprived of education due to new rules being enforced
in western Afghanistan, where men are not allowed to teach women. An
investigation may follow. "We are concerned about these reports if they
are correct," deputy minister, at the MOWA, Tajwar Kakar, told IRIN from
the Afghan capital, Kabul. "Obviously there are cultural issues we need to
take into consideration, but if women are being disadvantaged then we need
to change the situation," she added, reacting to a report released by
Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Thursday.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=31746&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN

AFGHANISTAN: Rural women to benefit from 14 new centres

Thousands of Afghan women are set to benefit from 14 women's centres set
up by the Ministry of Women's Affairs with help from a project set up by
the International Organisation of Migration (IOM) and funded by USAID.
"The use of the centres will be largely up to the Ministry of Women's
Affairs, but we can rely on there being income generation, literacy and
health education projects," Jarrett Blanc, the programme manager for IOM's
Afghanistan Transition Initiative (ATI), told IRIN, from the Afghan
capital, Kabul.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=31726&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN

AFGHANISTAN: Constitutional process proceeding

Afghan constitutional experts and former lawmakers have had mixed
reactions to the announcement that the first draft of the country's new
constitution will be made public in March, following a consultative
process by the nine-member Constitutional Drafting Commission inaugurated
late last year. "This is a welcome step, but the commission should have
included more legal experts and jurists," the exiled Afghan legal expert,
Roastar Tarakai, told IRIN from the French city of Lyon on Wednesday. "It
is a very sensitive time for our country, and this task needs careful
deliberation," he said, adding that the supreme law should reflect the
wishes and aspirations of the Afghan people and the realities of their
society.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=31727&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN

AFGHANISTAN: NGOs raise concern over Coalition's aid work

A US-based NGO working in Afghanistan raised concern on Tuesday over the
Coalition forces' engagement in reconstruction projects, saying it could
have a negative impact on security levels, and that it was "not a
substitute for security". "Our main concern is that there is a security
vacuum in Afghanistan, and despite promises made, the international
community is not likely to address it in the near future," the advocacy
coordinator for CARE International in Afghanistan, Paul O'Brien, told IRIN
from the capital, Kabul.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=31704&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN

AFGHANISTAN: Cold spell kills refugee children

The office for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
in Pakistan confirmed to IRIN on Monday, the deaths of children in Afghan
refugees camps on Pakistan's border with Afghanistan. "We know that there
have been some deaths, most probably due to the cold weather, but we don't
have any numbers yet," a UNHCR spokesman, Jack Redden, told IRIN, in the
Pakistani capital, Islamabad. The deaths are said to have occurred at
camps in the Bajaur Agency, some 100 km, north of Peshawar, the provincial
capital of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP).

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=31685&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN

PAKISTAN: Chronology of humanitarian and related developments in 2002

JANUARY 12: President Musharraf bans two militant groups - Lashkar-e-Toiba
and Jaish-e-Mohammad - and takes steps to curb religious extremism.

FEBRUARY 3: Pakistan decides to allow army officers to preside over
anti-terrorist courts.

FEBRUARY 8: Afghanistan's interim authority chairman, Hamid Karzai, starts
a crucial two-day official visit to Pakistan in a move described by
experts as a significant step towards improving relations between the two
neighbours.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=31740&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN

PAKISTAN: Water supplies resume for Afghan refugees

Water supplies to refugees at a settlement in Pakistan's tribal areas
resumed on Thursday, after negotiations and a different route was
identified for tankers to use, following a blockade by local residents.
"We have found a new transport route for the tankers and the water supply
is normal so the refugees will not be affected," commissioner for Afghan
refugees in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), Mushtaq Ahmad Alizai,
told IRIN from the provincial capital, Peshawar.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=31753&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN

CENTRAL ASIA: Chronology of humanitarian and related developments in 2002

TAJIKISTAN 8/1 - Refugees

A spokesman for the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) in Tajikistan dismisses a report saying that thousands of
Afghan refugees on the country's border with Afghanistan have gone home.
"We visited the area last week and know that the population has remained
consistent," Aurvasi Patel, a protection officer for UNHCR in the Tajik
capital, Dushanbe, told IRIN.

TAJIKISTAN: 10/1 - Emergency relief

Emergency rescue teams are still on the scene two days after a powerful
earthquake struck the eastern Rogun area, killing at least three and
leaving over 50 people injured. Aid workers on the ground say relief
coordination is going well. The quake, measuring 5.3 on the Richter scale,
destroyed or damaged scores of houses.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=31762&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=CENTRAL_ASIA

CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap

In Central Asia this week, opposition to Kyrgyzstan's upcoming
constitutional referendum on 2 February grew as the government of
President Askar Akayav attempted to respond to sensitive political issues.
Questions remain over a reported border agreement with China, the arrest
of an opposition lawmaker and a police crackdown on a March protest, in
which at least five people were killed and led the entire cabinet to
resign. "Kyrgyzstan will change into an absolute monarchy with the
approval of a new constitution," the AP quoted lawmaker, Adakhan
Mudomarov, as telling journalists. The opposition has complained that the
proposed constitutional amendments ignore the demands it had put forward
in a constitutional commission last year.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=31756&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=CENTRAL_ASIA


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