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-CAS Weekly Round-up 145
3 - 9 January 2004


CONTENTS:

IRAN: WFP feeding programme launched for Bam survivors
IRAN: Interview with Jan Egeland, head of OCHA, on Bam earthquake aftermath
IRAN: Combined field hospital established as earthquake rubble clearance begins
IRAN: Trauma counselling begins in Bam
IRAN: Some children back at school following quake
IRAN: UN to launch earthquake flash appeal - huge needs remain
IRAN: Bam quake camp established - but few takers
IRAN: Earthquake families receive rations
AFGHANISTAN: Special on Afghan repatriation from Pakistan
AFGHANISTAN: Interview with US-led coalition civil military coordinator
AFGHANISTAN: Loya Jirga finally adopts constitution
AFGHANISTAN: Pneumonia and flu kill 30 in Ghowr
AFGHANISTAN-TAJIKISTAN: Work on US-built Tajik-Afghan bridge to start in spring
PAKISTAN: Proposed repeal of faith-based laws hangs in the balance
PAKISTAN: Free trade area to bolster economic cooperation between SAARC member states
KAZAKHSTAN: Focus on new immigration law
KAZAKHSTAN: Syrdarya could burst its banks, impacting up to one million people
TAJIKISTAN: Yearender: Tajikistan at the crossroads
TAJIKISTAN: Journalists still face violations of their rights
CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap
CENTRAL ASIA: Chronology of key humanitarian developments in Central Asia in 2003


IRAN: WFP feeding programme launched for Bam survivors

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) launched a three-month
emergency operation on Friday to feed survivors of the earthquake that
razed the city of Bam. Following a WFP assessment, there are about 100,000
people in need of food aid in Bam and the surrounding area. WFP's
emergency aid package, worth US $2.9 million, will ensure that each person
receives a daily ration of bread, rice, pulses, vegetable oil, sugar,
nutritional biscuits and salt. The operation is part of the UN Flash
Appeal that was launched Thursday, jointly with the International
Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38852&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=IRAN


IRAN: Interview with Jan Egeland, head of OCHA, on Bam earthquake
aftermath

Jan Egeland, the head of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs (OCHA), as well the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for
Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, flew to the
earthquake-stricken Iranian city of Bam on Thursday to join Manuel Saurez
del Toro, president of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red
Crescent Societies (IFRC) for the first-ever joint launch of a United
Nations Flash Appeal.  The appeal has asked donors for US $73 million
dollars - $31.3 million on behalf of the United Nations and $42 million on
behalf of the IFRC. The money raised will be to address the urgent and
immediate needs of Bam and its people for the next three to six months.
IRIN spoke to Egeland after he had spent several hours surveying the
destruction of the devastated city and speaking to survivors.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38850&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=IRAN


IRAN: Combined field hospital established as earthquake rubble clearance
begins

The Iranian Ministry of Health and the International Federation of the Red
Cross (IFRC) agreed on Wednesday that field hospitals established in Bam,
following the massively destructive quake that hit the city on 26
December, by teams from the Ukraine, America and the IFRC, would be
combined. The new facility will eventually serve as the main referral
hospital for the 250,000 survivors in Bam and the surrounding region, and
will cover the hospital needs of Bam for the next year. "It's an emergency
response unit so it's a very self sufficient hospital. We brought twelve
tonnes of medicine with us and all the equipment - X-rays, ICU, an
operating theatre," Lasse Kylanpaa, an information delegate of the Finish
Red Cross, told IRIN. "At this stage, we're encouraging everyone to pool
their resources," he added.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38802&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=IRAN


IRAN: Trauma counselling begins in Bam

The French health NGO Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has despatched two
psychologists to counsel survivors of Bam's devastating earthquake.
Specialising in counselling children in crisis situations, they are
working in cooperation with the Ministry of Health. The UN has estimated
that the number of cases of post-traumatic stress disorder will be very
high - about 40 per cent of the surviving 100,000 population will suffer,
they say. Claudio Mochi, an MSF emergency psychologist, has been visiting
survivors' tents and setting up group therapy sessions. He sees about 30
patients a day and the sessions can last anything up to a couple of hours.
More than 30,000 people lost their lives in the quake, that struck the
city on 26 December.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38795&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=IRAN


IRAN: Some children back at school following quake

As the first homeless families started arriving in one of the three main
camps in Bam on Monday, the first school opened its doors since the
earthquake struck on 26 December. In mobile portacabins about thirty
children gathered to register their names - the first tentative step to
re-establishing education in the devastated city. At the site of what used
to be a girls secondary school, children of all ages had travelled from
across Bam and the surrounding villages to ensure a place. The quake
killed an estimated 32,000 people and left around 100,000 people homeless
and destitute. The children are eager to return to school, and they have
been reading school books handed out to them by the Iranian Red Crescent
Society (IRCS). Keeping up with their studies has proved quite difficult -
many of them cannot read at night as large parts of the city does not have
electricity. During the day they are expected to help their families
collect aid and search for their belongings in the rubble.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38738&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=IRAN


IRAN: UN to launch earthquake flash appeal - huge needs remain

The United Nations is preparing to launch a Flash Appeal for victims of
the Bam earthquake that struck 10 days ago and killed about 32,000 people.
The decision followed a request by the Iranian Ministry of Foreign
Affairs. Preparation for the Appeal is being conducted jointly with United
Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the International Federation of
the Red Cross (IFRC), and aims to address urgent and immediate needs in
affected areas. This is to ensure smooth transition from the emergency
phase to medium and long-term recovery. "This won't address medium and
long-term recovery issues but will help set the stage for it," Kamal
Kishore, the UNDP production coordinator for the UN Flash Appeal, told
IRIN. The Flash Appeal is based on a rapid needs assessment, which is
being carried out to identify the needs for the next three months. The
main areas are: food and logistics; shelter; cultural heritage; water and
sanitation; health and nutrition; special needs of vulnerable groups
including woman and children; education; livelihood recovery and
rehabilitation and coordination, security, telecommunications,
information, monitoring and evaluation.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38715&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=IRAN


IRAN: Bam quake camp established - but few takers

At least thirty-eight families have arrived in the first proper camp for
homeless earthquake victims in the southeastern Iranian city of Bam. The
facility is managed by Iranian authorities and was established by Swiss
Disaster relief and World Vision, including help from several other NGOs.
The camp was set up after an earthquake killed an estimated 32,000 people
and left around 100,000 people homeless and destitute in Bam and
surrounding villages on 26 December. Each family is given a tent which can
accommodate up to six people and which measures sixteen square metres. Two
tents can be laced together for larger families and there is room for up
to two thousand people in the camp. The new residents will receive one hot
meal a day, which will be provided by the US NGO Alabama Disaster Relief.
A team of twenty aid workers will be preparing and cooking food in a
mobile kitchen. They can provide up to five thousand meals every
twenty-four hours. "We're hoping that people will find out there's food
and they'll want to come here," team leader Larry Murphy told IRIN.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38736&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=IRAN


IRAN: Earthquake families receive rations

The Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS) has completed mapping the
devastated city of Bam into twelve districts, and nearly all families have
been registered and given monthly ration cards for relief distribution.
"We have a new relief distribution system in place which is mid-term -
this is more regular distribution given to families instead of
individuals, based on statistics of the number of people who are in the
city," Mustafa Mohaghegh, the IRCS international relations coordinator,
told IRIN on Sunday. Each family will receive about 12 basic items a month
and a further nine items, such as tents, blankets and cooking utensils,
every six months. "Our plan is to include the coordination of the
international organisations and NGOs and to try and bring back normal life
to the people in the city," Mohaghegh said.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38705&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=IRAN


AFGHANISTAN: Special on Afghan repatriation from Pakistan

Sitting beneath the lush grape vines he lovingly planted 23 years earlier,
Haji Wali Mohammad, finds it difficult to contemplate leaving his simple
two roomed home in Kachi Garhi, an Afghan refugee community of some 12,000
families and the largest in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province
(NWFP). "In my village there is peace, but we face other problems there,"
the 65-year-old former day labourer from the eastern Afghan province of
Laghman told IRIN, citing an acute lack of jobs, housing and other
facilities available for returning Afghans. "I want to go back to my
country, but I don't think conditions are right, do you?" the
father-of-seven asked. Indeed, conditions back home - battered after over
two decades of war - are far from clear, leaving many Afghans asking the
same question.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38804&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN


AFGHANISTAN: Interview with US-led coalition civil military coordinator

Following a series of attacks on UN and NGO aid workers in the south and
east of the country, the US-led coalition in Kabul said it planned to set
up more bases to provide security, reconstruction and aid in different
parts of the country - particularly in the southern and eastern provinces,
which are plagued by Taliban attacks.  Such attacks have forced the UN and
other aid groups to withdraw from some regions, thereby undermining aid
delivery and confidence in the reconstruction efforts of the US-backed
government ahead of elections slated for June. In an interview with IRIN,
Colonel Darrel Branhagen, director of the US-led coalition civil military
coordination centre in Kabul, said more civil military forces in the shape
of Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs) were to be deployed in the
troubled provinces of the country by June 2004.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38812&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN


AFGHANISTAN: Loya Jirga finally adopts constitution

Afghanistan took another step towards democracy and representative
government on Sunday when the first post-conflict constitution was finally
concluded. The grand council voted to adopt the new constitution following
21 days of heated and sometimes acrimonious discussion at the historic
502-member Constitutional Loya Jirga (CLJ). Most of the disagreements were
over the power of the presidency, the relationship between Kabul and the
provinces and adoption of official languages. Delegates at the
UN-supervised gathering stood up for a minute in unison on Sunday evening,
demonstrating their approved of the final draft of 160-article new
constitution. "It took us too long - around 21 days with very hard times,
but it had a good ending," said Sibghatullah Mujadidi the chairman of the
CLJ.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38704&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN


AFGHANISTAN: Pneumonia and flu kill 30 in Ghowr

The United Nations in Kabul said on Monday tha severe influenza and
pneumonia had killed 30 people due to extreme cold in the western
provinces of Ghowr in late December. "This is not an outbreak of whooping
cough, as has been reported, but a severe type of influenza and
pneumonia," Manoel de Almieda e Silva, a spokesperson of the United
Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said on Monday. UNAMA
said according to UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund) some 30 people,
mostly children, were reported to have died so far. "The cases have been
confirmed in an area called Bandari Boor, which is approximately 30 km
south of the center of Shahrak district. Five villages - Sofak, Nawi
Mazar, Zoroomi Olia, Zoroomi Sofla, and Beedan - comprising 250 households
have been affected. It is worth noting that this part of Afghanistan is
subject to extremely cold weather and the population in the area is very
destitute," the spokesperson said.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38722&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN


AFGHANISTAN-TAJIKISTAN: Work on US-built Tajik-Afghan bridge to start in
spring

US plans to erect a multi-million dollar bridge spanning the Pyanj river
between southern Tajikistan and northern Afghanistan, are proceeding, with
positive implications for both countries, IRIN learnt on Monday. "This
bridge will complement the Friendship bridge at Termez in Uzbekistan,
providing an additional means of getting needed humanitarian assistance to
Afghans," Jennifer Washeleski, public affairs officer for the US Embassy
in the Tajik capital Dushanbe, told IRIN. She added that as a landlocked
country, Tajikistan was dependent on its neighbours to transit goods and
facilitate trade, making the bridge a viable contributor to that country's
fledgling economy. "Having an alternative route, offers additional trade
opportunities and will benefit Tajikistan, as well as other countries in
the region," the US official explained.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38727&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN-TAJIKISTAN


PAKISTAN: Proposed repeal of faith-based laws hangs in the balance

A recent accord between the ruling coalition and a right-wing alliance of
six religious parties, known as the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) that
enabled constitutional amendments proposed by President Pervez Musharraf -
who, himself, was able to win a controversial vote-of-confidence as a
result - to be pushed through parliament and become a part of Pakistan's
1973 constitution has raised apprehensions amongst rights groups battling
to get the contentious Hudood Ordinances repealed. Promulgated in 1979 by
then military dictator Gen. Zia-ul-Haq as part of an "Islamisation
programme," the Hudood Ordinances relate primarily to adultery and
fornication (Zina) offences, but also deal with theft, alcohol and drug
consumption and false accusations in court (Qazf). A fifth component, the
Whipping Ordinance prescribes punishments such as stoning to death or up
to 100 lashes.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38813&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN


PAKISTAN: Free trade area to bolster economic cooperation between SAARC
member states

The foreign ministers of the seven-member South Asian Association for
Regional Cooperation (SAARC) approved the framework agreement for a
regional free-trade zone on Saturday, announcing that the South Asian Free
Trade Area (SAFTA) would come into effect in two years, a move termed
significant by an analyst. "It is a very significant development and if
everything moves on track, this will lead to the creation of more jobs,
generating more business and improving the standard of living for ordinary
people of South Asia - which constitute one-fifth of humanity," Nasim
Zehra, a senior journalist and international affairs analyst, told IRIN in
the Pakistani capital, Islamabad.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38724&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN


KAZAKHSTAN: Focus on new immigration law

A new law governing migration from Central Asian countries to Kazakhstan
sets strict rules for people who come there to visit, work, or on
business. In March this year, border posts were erected with armed
frontier guards and passport control. The goal of the migration law is to
regulate the inflow of foreigners, protect the home labour market, and
curb crime. Police say that 40 percent of crimes in Almaty, the commercial
capital of Kazakhstan, are committed by migrants. No independent figures
exist to support this claim. According to the national press, the new
rules are causing constant tension between the Kazakh Ministry of
International Affairs and its counterparts in other Central Asian states,
with the latter unhappy with the way their citizens are being treated in
Kazakhstan.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38754&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=KAZAKHSTAN


KAZAKHSTAN: Syrdarya could burst its banks, impacting up to one million
people

If the Chardara water reservoir in the extreme south of Kazakhstan were to
overflow, up to 1 million people living downstream along the Syrdarya
river, that the reservoir flows into, could be flooded out, government
officials warned on Tuesday. The Syrdarya is one of two important rivers
in Central Asia, along with the Amudarya. "The situation is dangerous,
particularly as we have got a very big water inflow and we cannot make
huge discharges because the river downstream can't handle more water,"
Amirkhan Kenchimov, the deputy head of the water resources agency at the
Kazakh agriculture ministry, told IRIN from the capital, Astana on
Tuesday.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38757&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=KAZAKHSTAN


TAJIKISTAN: Yearender: Tajikistan at the crossroads

Under the mighty snowcapped Kofarnihan Mountains, Taloi Safid, a tiny
village of 2,000 inhabitants, could hardly be described as remarkable. A
simple rural Tajik farming community, 30 km east of the capital, Dushanbe,
its name in Tajik means White Gold, a reference to the rich cotton fields
surrounding its periphery - the traditional main source of income for the
300 families for whom Taloi Safid is home. But a closer look at the
impoverished community's simple, ramshackle wooden homes reveals something
strange. Here it is the women who do most of the farming, a direct
consequence of the acute lack of men left amongst the population, most of
whom now work in Russia as labour migrants to provide for their families.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38713&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=TAJIKISTAN


TAJIKISTAN: Journalists still face violations of their rights

An independent Tajik media watchdog, the only one of its kind, said on
Wednesday it registered 100 possible violations of the rights of
journalists in 2003. The body also expressed concern that freedom of
information was under attack in the Central Asian republic. "The most
important problem facing Tajik journalists is access to information
sources. Our monitoring of violations of journalists' rights and mass
media once more confirmed that this problem exists in Tajik society and
needs to be solved," Nuriddin Karshiboev, chairman of the National
Association of Tajik Independent Media (NANSMIT), told IRIN from the Tajik
capital, Dushanbe. Also, there were other types of violations with regard
to rights of journalists and the mass media, particularly incidents of
hindering them from their professional duties and intimidation, Karshiboev
added.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38778&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=TAJIKISTAN


CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap

Three armed drug couriers from Afghanistan were killed as a result of an
exchange of fire with Russian border guards on the Tajik-Afghan border on
Wednesday, ITAR-TASS reported. A detail of Russian border guards, along
with officers from the Tajik Internal Affairs Ministry directorate
combating drug trafficking, spotted five border violators crossing from
Afghanistan. During an attempt to arrest them three Afghans were shot dead
and one was seriously injured. Border guards found three sacks containing
heroin and marijuana at the scene of the incident. Authorities in
Tajikistan in 2003 seized a record haul of 9.64 tons of illegal drugs from
neighbouring Afghanistan, the Tajik anti-drugs agency reported Wednesday.
Some 5.6 tons of the confiscations consisted of heroin with an estimated
'wholesale' value of up to US $ 125 million on the European drugs market.
The total 'street' value of the heroin could reach four times as much.
Tajik officials partly attributed the record figures to improvements in
their own detection methods, but also admitted to a sharp increase in the
flow of drugs across their borders.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38853&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=CENTRAL_ASIA


CENTRAL ASIA: Chronology of key humanitarian developments in Central Asia
in 2003

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38745&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=IRIN%20ASIA


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