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 100
22 - 28 February 2003


CONTENTS:

AFGHANISTAN: Focus on Coalition reconstruction teams
AFGHANISTAN: Kabul calls for jobs for former combatants
AFGHANISTAN: Two children die from suspected meningitis
PAKISTAN: Growing concern over drug addiction rate
TAJIKISTAN: Severe weather leads to avalanches
TAJIKISTAN: Radio show may promote democracy
IRAN: Afghan repatriation nears 400,000 mark
UZBEKISTAN: HRW calls for release of dissident
CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap

AFGHANISTAN: Focus on Coalition reconstruction teams

There's a strong smell of fresh paint as you walk through the corridors of
the Rabia Balkhi Women's Hospital in the capital, Kabul, these days. Two
months ago, the strongest smell was the leaking toilets on the second
floor of Afghanistan's main women's hospital. Col Rene Dolder of the
United States Coalition's civil affairs team, which is overseeing the
refurbishment of the hospital, says the stench used to hit them as soon as
they walked in. "You wouldn't have brought anyone in to get their
fingernails clipped," he told IRIN in Kabul.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32509&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN

AFGHANISTAN: Kabul calls for jobs for former combatants

The Afghan Ministry of Defence has called for increased job opportunities
for thousands of fighters before they can be disarmed and reintegrated
into civil society. "Mujahideen [combatants] will not be demobilised until
job opportunities are created for them," Afghanistan Deputy Defence
Minister Attiqullah Baryalai, told IRIN in the capital, Kabul. The
minister's comments followed the establishment of a new commission under
the Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) programme which
seeks to collect and store weapons currently in the possession of
fighters, militia and Mujahideen and eventually demobilise them so they
can take their place in civil society.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32530&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN

AFGHANISTAN: Two children die from suspected meningitis

The World Health Organisation (WHO) in Afghanistan confirmed to IRIN on
Thursday the deaths of two children in Vardak Province to the southwest of
the capital, Kabul, with the cause suspected to be meningitis, but
stressed that they were isolated cases. "A team of health experts from the
Afghan Ministry of Health [MOH] and WHO have just returned from the area
today and believe the cause of death to be meningitis," Dr Asadullah
Taqdeer of the national office for WHO’s emergency and humanitarian action
(EHA), told IRIN in Kabul. The victims were two girls, one aged four and
the other aged seven in the village of Tizak in the Behsud District of
Vardak Province. "There have been lots of rumours on the scale of the
problem lately which are simply not true, and that is why we sent a team
there," he added.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32562&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN

PAKISTAN: Growing concern over drug addiction rate

In its new annual report, the International Narcotics Control Board
(INCB), an independent body set up under international treaty, has
expressed concern over the resurgence of poppy cultivation in Pakistan,
coupled with spiralling addiction rates. "Our major concern is the
increase in the injecting drug use of heroin in Pakistan, which will
increase the HIV/AIDS pandemic," Thomas Zeindl-Cronin, head of the UN
Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) told IRIN in the Pakistani capital,
Islamabad, on Tuesday. He added that some 500,000 heroin addicts in the
country were increasingly turning to injecting drug use, which was of huge
concern.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32524&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN

TAJIKISTAN: Severe weather leads to avalanches

Heavy winter rains and snowfall over the past week in Tajikistan have
blocked roads in many parts of the country, leading to avalanches that
have left at least six people dead. "It's an unfortunate fact of
Tajikistan’s geography that it's hit by avalanches, mud and landslides
that cause damage to property and life," Paul Handley, Humanitarian
Affairs Officer with the UN Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs (OCHA), told IRIN from the Tajik capital, Dushanbe, on Tuesday.  
This mountainous nation of six and a half million is prone to natural
disasters with landslides, mud-slides, flash floods, earthquakes and
avalanches a common occurrence.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32508&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=TAJIKISTAN

TAJIKISTAN: Radio show may promote democracy

A new programme on Tajikistan's independent radio station, Asia Plus, is
expected to boost debate on pluralism and democracy in the impoverished
nation, still reeling from the effects of five years of civil war. "Our
intention is to strengthen democracy and we will keep on doing our best,"
Scott Kearin, country director for the US-based National Democratic
Institute for International Affairs (NDI) who are funding the initiative,
told IRIN, on Thursday from the Tajik capital, Dushanbe.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32565&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=TAJIKISTAN

IRAN: Afghan repatriation nears 400,000 mark

The number of Afghans who have returned to their homeland from Iran is
approaching the 400,000 mark, says the Office of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). "We’re very close to the 400,000
target," the agency's spokeswoman, Laura O’Mahony, told IRIN from the
Iranian capital, Tehran, on Wednesday. "We could well hit that figure next
week." According to UNHCR figures for Tuesday, 395,752 Afghans had
voluntarily gone home since the joint programme with Tehran began on 9
April 2002. Of this number, 265,212 refugees - almost 38,000 families -
had received assistance from the refugee agency, while another 130,540 had
returned home spontaneously - without assistance.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32523&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=IRAN

UZBEKISTAN: HRW calls for release of dissident

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called for the immediate release of a
government dissident in Uzbekistan, allegedly beaten by police and now
seriously ill. The group sees his arrest as the latest in a series of
police actions intended to stifle public criticism of the state. "There
has been a push to silence public criticism of the government," office
director for the watchdog group, Matilda Bogner, told IRIN from the Uzbek
capital, Tashkent, on Wednesday. "The international community needs to
make a concerted effort, to put pressure on the Uzbeks to allow public
criticism and debate - and particularly to release Ergash Bobojanov."

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32531&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=UZBEKISTAN

CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap

The mountainous state of Kyrgyzstan this week expressed concern over
another border incident with its powerful neighbour Uzbekistan. On
Wednesday in Bishkek, Kyrgyz Foreign Minister Askar Aitmatov summoned
Uzbek Ambassador Alisher Salahitdinov, following a landmine explosion
which killed one man in the south of the country. The meeting follows an
earlier one between the two last week after two Uzbek border guards
reportedly crossed into Kyrgyzstan and harassed residents, firing a
warning shot from a rifle before retreating home, Reuters said.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32586&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=CENTRAL_ASIA


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