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 123
02 - 08 August 2003


CONTENTS:

AFGHANISTAN: Opium seizures prompt fears of resumed poppy cultivation
AFGHANISTAN: First station to broadcast live 24 hours launched
AFGHANISTAN: Major locust threat averted, says FAO
CENTRAL ASIA: US-backed printing house to boost press freedom
CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap
KAZAKHSTAN: Special report on HIV/AIDS and drug addiction
KYRGYZSTAN: Focus on rising ground-water levels in the south
PAKISTAN: Transport, trade protocol hailed as "landmark achievement"
PAKISTAN: Task force established in NWFP to combat hepatitis
PAKISTAN: New resolution against acid attacks on women approved
PAKISTAN: Health concerns persist in flood-ravaged Sindh
PAKISTAN: Thousands left homeless in flood-stricken Sindh as situation improves
PAKISTAN: Roadblocks lifted in Okara as land dispute continues
TURKMENISTAN: New prestige water project may harm the environment
TURKMENISTAN: Rights group condemns assault on opposition figure
UZBEKISTAN: Infant mortality remains high, experts say

AFGHANISTAN: Opium seizures prompt fears of resumed poppy cultivation

About 50 kg of opium has been seized in the eastern province of Nangarhar,
igniting fears of re-emerging poppy cultivation, according to the United
Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). "UNODC has been working closely
with the Afghan authorities and the donor community to counter narcotics.
All parties recognise that to counter narcotics is a complex and long-term
issue in Afghanistan. These seizures represent one aspect of the bigger
picture, namely law enforcement," Adam Bouloukos, the deputy
representative of UNODC in Afghanistan, told IRIN from the capital, Kabul.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35797&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN

AFGHANISTAN: First station to broadcast live 24 hours launched

Afghanistan's first radio station to broadcast live 24 hours a day went on
air in the capital, Kabul, this week. Radio Khilid Kabul (RKK) 88.5 FM is
one of the first private-sector radio stations in the country to be
granted a government broadcasting licence. "Radio Khilid will be
highlighting Afghan culture, giving it back to the Afghan people as it has
almost been forgotten. For 30 years Afghans have been living in other
countries, and Afghan culture has not been transmitted to their children,"
Shahir Zahine, the director-general of an Afghan NGO, Development
Humanitarian Assistance for Afghanistan (DHSA), told IRIN from Kabul on
Wednesday.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35816&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN

AFGHANISTAN: Major locust threat averted, says FAO

The UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) says food production has
been secured following successful intervention this year to control a
plague of locusts. "This is encouraging and a good start for the
agricultural sector," the senior officer, migratory pests, Clive Elliott,
told IRIN from FAO headquarters in Rome on Monday. It was estimated that
more than 400,000 ha of rain-fed wheat and a further 190,000 ha of
irrigated wheat could have been affected in a country where up to 85
percent of the population is dependent on agriculture.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35775&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN

CENTRAL ASIA: US-backed printing house to boost press freedom

Freedom House, a US-based international rights group, aims to boost press
freedom in Central Asia by establishing an independent printing house in
Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, a tiny impoverished Central Asian
nation once known as an island of democracy in the region. "The opening of
the Media Support Centre Foundation [to operate the printing press] will
provide an alternative printing outlet for publications in Kyrgyzstan and
Central Asia [in general]," Mike Stone, the group's project director, told
IRIN from Bishkek, adding that it would create competition by enabling
customers to exercise choice in terms of quality, service and cost for
their printing needs.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35811&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=CENTRAL_ASIA

CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap

An earthquake with a magnitude of four on the Richter scale hit Kazakhstan
on Saturday, but no casualties or major damage were reported. Its
epicentre was some 430 km north of the nation's commercial capital,
Almaty, and 25 km east of Lake Balkhash. Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan have
set up a special working group to deal with the demarcation of their
common border. The parties began negotiations on Wednesday in the Uzbek
capital, Tashkent which were set to end on Sunday. Kayrat Abuseitov, the
Kazakh senior deputy foreign minister, told local journalists earlier that
the demarcation was necessary, particularly near settlements where the
border often ran literally through the gardens of homes.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35875&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=CENTRAL_ASIA

KAZAKHSTAN: Special report on HIV/AIDS and drug addiction

Nurali Amonzholov knows all to well the problems of addiction and HIV. The
former drug addict and HIV-positive 33-year-old heads up Shapagat, a local
NGO based in Temirtau in northeastern Kazakhstan, a city described by
health officials as "ground zero" for AIDS in Central Asia. Working
alongside a dedicated group of volunteers, the father-of-two works
tirelessly to provide assistance and support for those infected with HIV,
a group largely forgotten in this vast country, about 40 percent of whom
have no access to proper housing, and many suffer from a lack of education
and job opportunities, not to mention health care.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35793&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=KAZAKHSTAN

KYRGYZSTAN: Focus on rising ground-water levels in the south

The problem of rising ground-water levels in and around reservoirs in
southern Kyrgyzstan continues to play havoc with the health and
agriculture of rural people there. Lack of properly maintained drainage
systems is cited as the root cause. "This is the second house I have built
here, but the wall falls down again," Haitbai Pazylov, a resident of the
Kyzyl-Shark village in the southern province of Osh, told IRIN. "It is
swamp now and nothing more. You can have neither garden nor orchard,
everything withers on the vine," he said.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35844&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=KYRGYZSTAN

PAKISTAN: Transport, trade protocol hailed as "landmark achievement"

A protocol to improve transport and trade links in the region signed
between Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan under the
sponsorship of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) at a recent ministerial
conference in the Philippines capital, Manila, is "a landmark
achievement", according to a Pakistani analyst. "Previous discussions on
such a subject have been confined to a bilateral status. For an entire
group of nations to sit down and chalk out a strategy like this is a very
significant development, Dr Rasul Baksh Rais, a professor of political
science at the Lahore University of Management Sciences, told IRIN from
the eastern city of Lahore on Monday.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35794&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN

PAKISTAN: Task force established in NWFP to combat hepatitis

A task force has been established in North West Frontier Province (NWFP)
as part of a province-wide campaign to combat hepatitis, which is
spreading at an alarming rate, an official said on Wednesday. "It is a
one-week campaign with different components, including seminars,
workshops, display posters and walks to raise awareness. The NWFP is the
first region in Pakistan to launch such a campaign," the provincial health
secretary, Dr Ihsan-Ul-Haq, told IRIN from Peshawar, adding that the
federal government was working on a similar idea for the whole country.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35819&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN

PAKISTAN: New resolution against acid attacks on women approved

A resolution declaring acid attacks on women to be equivalent to attempted
murder was unanimously approved in the provincial assembly of the eastern
province of the Punjab, according to a woman legislator. "The resolution
calls for an acid-throwing crime to be considered as a murder attempt. It
also calls for free legal aid to be given to the victims, and for
rehabilitation centres to be established so that the victims can be looked
after. I have also asked for the sale and storage of acids to be
licensed," Humaira Awais Shahid, a member of the Punjab provincial
assembly, told IRIN from the Punjabi capital, Lahore, on Thursday. "Acid
attacks have never been recognised as a crime," Shahid said.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35847&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN

PAKISTAN: Health concerns persist in flood-ravaged Sindh

The worst is still to come as people in flood-ravaged areas seek to resume
their routines and to return to lives badly hit by the rains in the
southern province of Sindh, with medical facilities and doctors bracing
themselves for a spate of disease outbreaks and, possibly, even epidemics,
according to a physician in the port city of Karachi.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35846&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN

PAKISTAN: Thousands left homeless in flood-stricken Sindh as situation
improves

The southern province of Sindh is still reeling from the heaviest rainfall
in almost a decade. Despite a death toll of 153, and hundreds of thousands
left homeless or stranded, officials now say the situation is gradually
taking a turn for the better. "The situation is improving, even in Badin,
which was the worst-hit district," the information adviser to the Sindh
government, Salahuddin Haider, told IRIN from the port city of Karachi on
Monday.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35777&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN

PAKISTAN: Roadblocks lifted in Okara as land dispute continues

Roadblocks around several villages in Okara District, about 100 km south
of the Punjabi capital, Lahore, appear to have been lifted by the military
in spite of a continuing land dispute, according to the leader of a
landless peasants' union. "The roadblocks around villages with communities
which refuse to sign new tenancy contracts have been temporarily lifted,"
Liaqat Ali, the chairman of the Anjuman-e Mazare'in-e Punjab (AMP), told
IRIN from Okara on Friday.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35878&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN

TURKMENISTAN: New prestige water project may harm the environment

A giant artificial lake being created in Turkmenistan's Karakum desert to
provide for the country's growing water needs may cause more problems than
it solves, observers have warned. "The lake could pollute massive swathes
of land with salt, and most of the water would evaporate from an open-air
lake anyway," Michael Wilson of the EU's Tacis support programme told IRIN
in the capital, Ashgabat.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35778&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=TURKMENISTAN

TURKMENISTAN: Rights group condemns assault on opposition figure

The International Helsinki Federation has strongly condemned the brutal
beating in Moscow this week of Avdy Kuliev, a former foreign minister and
founder of the United Democratic Opposition of Turkmenistan (UDOT). "The
incident raises serious questions about the security in Russia for Kuliev
and others like him who are lawfully promoting reform in Turkmenistan and
elsewhere," Aaron Rhodes, the executive director of the rights group, told
IRIN from Vienna, viewing the case in the context of a number of other
recent incidents in the Russian capital.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35869&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=TURKMENISTAN

UZBEKISTAN: Infant mortality remains high, experts say

The issue of infant mortality remains a source of concern in Uzbekistan.
Given current trends, it is unlikely that the country will be able to
reduce under-five mortality rates by two-thirds by 2015 - one of eight
millennium development goals the country has targeted. "There has been a
slight decrease in infant mortality over recent years, but it remains
high," Klara Yadgarova, the deputy head of the mother and child health
department at the health ministry, told IRIN from the capital, Tashkent.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35823&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=UZBEKISTAN


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Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2003


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