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Integrated Regional Information Network for Central Asia

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Central Asia
IRIN-CA Weekly Round-up 130
20 - 26 September 2003


CONTENTS:

AFGHANISTAN: EU to assist paying police wages
AFGHANISTAN: Cool reaction to major defence ministry reforms
AFGHANISTAN: Kabul backs call to end support for warlords
AFGHANISTAN: Rights abuses and forced displacement in central Oruzgan province
KAZAKHSTAN: Astana to hold world faith conference
KAZAKHSTAN: Aral Sea donor assessment meeting held in Almaty
KAZAKHSTAN: Questions remain about waste dumps in Mangistau
KYRGYZSTAN: Focus on deforestation in south
KYRGYZSTAN: Water supplies present potential health risks in west
KYRGYZSTAN: Anthrax outbreak could have been avoided
PAKISTAN: Access to health facilities poor in Pakistan-administered Kashmir
UZBEKISTAN: HRW says neighbourhood committees violate rights
CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap

AFGHANISTAN: EU to assist paying police wages

Guarding a government building in the Afghan capital Kabul, Zia-ul-haq, a
25-year-old Afghan police officer was worried about his 10-member family
as he had been unable to send them money for months. "I have not been paid
any salary for three months," the commander of four policeman-posts told
IRIN. While police wages have been one of the major challenges for
security sector reform inside the beleagured nation, the European
Commission (EC) announced on Thursday a 15.5 million euro contribution
[almost US $18 million] to the Law and Order Trust Fund for Afghanistan
(LOTFA), primarily to address the issue of outstanding police wages.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=36820&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN

AFGHANISTAN: Cool reaction to major defence ministry reforms

Reaction has been cool following a recent government decision to appoint
22 new people at the Ministry of Defense. Although aimed at ensuring
ethnic diversity and balance within the ministry, Afghan analysts have
described the decision as a 'short term useful step,' warning, however, it
would not have sustainable results. "It was a small step forward, however,
appointing new people will not bring any solution as they will still be
under a higher authority pressure," Wadir Safi, a professor of
International Law and Politics at Kabul university, told IRIN in the
Afghan capital.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=36790&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN

AFGHANISTAN: Kabul backs call to end support for warlords

The Afghan government has welcomed a call by Human Rights Watch (HRW) to
US President George W Bush, asking him to withdraw financial support and
arms deliveries to regional warlords and military commanders tied to
rights abuses. "The suggestion by Human Rights Watch is supported by the
Afghan Transitional government," Ali Ahmad Jalali, the Afghan Interior
Minister, told IRIN on Wednesday in the country's capital, Kabul.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=36789&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN

AFGHANISTAN: Rights abuses and forced displacement in central Oruzgan
province

The Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) has expressed
serious concern about rights abuses in the Daikundi district of the
central province of Oruzgan. "At least every week we are monitoring a case
of forced displacement or intimidation of civilians by local commanders in
the area," Ahmad Nader Naderi, a spokesperson for AIHRC told IRIN on
Sunday. Naderi said their teams in Daikundi had found that factional
fighting and cruelty by local commanders had caused many problems for
local civilians.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=36732&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN

KAZAKHSTAN: Astana to hold world faith conference

In an effort to foster greater dialogue among religions, Kazakhstan will
host a two-day congress on world religions, the first of its kind in the
vast Central Asian state. "The idea is to get people from different
religions to sit down around one table and discuss the most important
issues of the day," Adel Abishev, a spokesman for the Kazakh Foreign
Ministry told IRIN from the Kazakh capital Astana. "We want to show the
world that people from different religions can meet and talk to each
other."

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=36686&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=KAZAKHSTAN

KAZAKHSTAN: Aral Sea donor assessment meeting held in Almaty

In an effort to review ongoing humanitarian operations underway in the
region's impoverished Aral Sea area, the United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP) on Wednesday hosted a round table on donor activities in
the Kazakh commercial capital Almaty. The round table was organized by the
Kyzyl-Orda province governorship with UNDP's support. "More than US $82
million has been invested in the development of the Aral Sea region in the
form of grants and loans over the past 10 years," Aida Karazhanova, a
senior programme assistant of UNDP's environment unit, told IRIN.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=36368&SelectRegion=Central_Asia

KAZAKHSTAN: Questions remain about waste dumps in Mangistau

Waste dumps near the western Kazakh town of Aktau remain a source of
environmental concern for local ecology officials and scientists. Hundreds
of mt of various radioactive and toxic waste have been discharged into the
'Koshkar-Ata' repository since 1965, impacting the adjacent area and the
health of local inhabitants.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=36832&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=KAZAKHSTAN

KYRGYZSTAN: Focus on deforestation in south

Plant pests, diseases and the cutting of trees is badly affecting
walnut-fruit forests in southern Kyrgyzstan, leading to deforestation in
one of Central Asia's most beautiful areas, local scientists and
environmental activists warn.  "The gypsy moth invasion reached its peak
in 2000 with some 52,000 hectares of walnut-fruit and pistachio forests in
Kyrgyzstan impacted," Nurzat Totubaeva, an expert at the Kyrgyz state
forest service, told IRIN from the capital Bishkek.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=36809&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=KYRGYZSTAN

KYRGYZSTAN: Water supplies present potential health risks in west

Following a three-month mission to six provinces in Kyrgyzstan, a
scientist from the US Environmental Protection Agency maintained that
drinking water supplies and waste water treatment in the west of the
country were in dire need of upgrading to prevent widespread health
problems. "What is going on there is shocking," John Johnston, told IRIN
in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek, referring to the Kyzyl-Adyr village in the
Kara Buura region of western Talas province as an example.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=36759&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=KYRGYZSTAN

KYRGYZSTAN: Anthrax outbreak could have been avoided

Eight people in the southern Kyrgyz provinces of Osh and Batken have been
hospitalised under suspicion of having contracted anthrax. "Their health
condition is satisfactory, the patients are recovering," medical personnel
told IRIN at the Kyzyl-Kiya and Nookat hospitals in the south. According
to the epidemiological department at the Kyrgyz health ministry, all those
suspected of contracting anthrax took part in slaughtering a cow with the
disease.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=36725&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=KYRGYZSTAN

PAKISTAN: Access to health facilities poor in Pakistan-administered
Kashmir

A visiting team of French medical personnel on an intensive five-day
humanitarian tour of Pakistan-administered Kashmir, found that while local
surgeons and doctors were competent, access to health care was not up to
the mark, the head of the mission told a press conference in the Pakistani
capital, Islamabad, on Thursday. "I was satisfied with the local surgeons
we worked with, but discovered that access to health care was not very
good, possibly because of the difficult, hilly terrain," Dr Bernard Debre,
a former French minister for international development, who headed the
team, told IRIN.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=36817&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN

UZBEKISTAN: HRW says neighbourhood committees violate rights

Uzbekistan's neighbourhood committees or mahallas - local government
authorities with the power to administer a range of activities - are being
used to violate fundamental human rights, bringing the repressive policies
of President Islam Karimov to a local level, a report by Human Rights
Watch (HRW) issued on Tuesday said. "Taken over by the authorities, the
mahalla system is now being used to increase the government's control over
the population, thereby resulting in greater rights abuses," Matilda
Bogner, the office director for the watchdog group, told IRIN from the
Uzbek capital, Tashkent.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=36757&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=UZBEKISTAN

CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap

The Tajik Health Ministry said on Saturday that the number of people
infected with HIV/AIDS in the country was growing. The disease was
primarily brought into the country by young men who had travelled abroad
searching for jobs, particularly to Russia, the Tajik Deputy Health
Minister Ziyovuddin Afghonov reportedly said. As of today, 96 HIV/AIDS
positives had been reported in various places of Tajikistan, he added.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=36838&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=CENTRAL_ASIA


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