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Integrated Regional Information Network for Central Asia

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Central Asia
IRIN-CAS Weekly Round-up 161
24 - 30 April 2004


CONTENTS:

AFGHANISTAN: NGOs alarmed at minister's criticism
AFGHANISTAN: Two aid workers killed in attack on NGO 
KAZAKHSTAN: Interview with participant at controversial Euroasian Media 
  Forum
KYRGYZSTAN: Bishkek appeals for international help in landslide aftermath
KYRGYZSTAN: Fatal landslide in Budalyk was unexpected, say emergency 
  officials
KYRGYZSTAN: Landslides in south kill more than 30
KYRGYZSTAN: Focus on illegal coal mining in the south
PAKISTAN: Focus on court decision banning jirga trials
PAKISTAN: Afghan repatriation increasing
TURKMENISTAN: Desalination of drinking water needed 
UZBEKISTAN: Status of Soros Foundation remains bleak
CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap


AFGHANISTAN: NGOs alarmed at minister's criticism

Aid agencies in the Afghan capital Kabul have expressed concern at a
government minister who called NGOs ineffective and accused them of
squandering Afghan reconstruction money. Ramazan Bashardoost, Afghan
minister of planning, made the controversial comments at the Afghanistan
Development Forum's two-day meeting in the capital last Tuesday.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40761&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN


AFGHANISTAN: Two aid workers killed in attack on NGO

Following an attack on an Afghan NGO which killed two local aid workers
and a soldier in the Panjwayi district of southern Kandahar city on Monday
evening, an NGO security body has called on aid agencies to be more
cautious in the field. "We call on the NGO community to raise awareness
and take more and more precautions to protect their staff."

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40798&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN 


KAZAKHSTAN: Interview with participant at controversial Euroasian Media
Forum

A Kazakh journalist has complained that the third Euroasian Media Forum -
a high profile international event organised by the president's daughter -
held in Almaty last week, failed to address the concerns of her
colleagues. Important issues affecting the local media were ignored
according to Aigul Omarova, a journalist with 'Navigator', a popular
Internet-based newspaper in Kazakhstan. She spoke to IRIN and gave
examples of restrictions on media freedom in Kazakhstan, including the
harassment of local journalists.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40839&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=KAZAKHSTAN 


KYRGYZSTAN: Bishkek appeals for international help in landslide aftermath

The Kyrgyz government has asked the international community for assistance
to mitigate the consequences of Monday's deadly landslide in the south,
which claimed the lives of 33 and left scores homeless. Kyrgyz Prime
Minister Nikolai Tanaev met representatives of international organisations
and embassies accredited in the Kyrgyz capital on Wednesday, Emil Akmatov,
a spokesman for the Kyrgyz Emergency Situations Ministry's civil defence
unit.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40818&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=KYRGYZSTAN 


KYRGYZSTAN: Fatal landslide in Budalyk was unexpected, say emergency
officials

Monday's deadly landslide in southern Kyrgyzstan - where at least 33
people lost their lives - caught Kyrgyz emergency officials by surprise,
despite a recent landslide risk assessment in the region. "The Kaynama
area [in Budalyk village] was landslide-prone based on the results of the
monitoring. However, specialists didn't expect such a quick sliding of the
land in the area. A high level of moisture [in the soil] and a series of
recurring tremors over the past week resulted in the land mass rushing
down."

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40785&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=KYRGYZSTAN 


KYRGYZSTAN: Landslides in south kill more than 30

Almost 35 people are reported dead and a dozen injured following a series
of landslides over the past three days in southern Kyrgyzstan. "A
landslide buried seven houses today [Monday morning] in the Budalyk
village of the [southern] Alay district. Some 12 village residents were
taken to a hospital in Gulcho, the capital of Alay district, with five of
them still undergoing treatment as of Monday afternoon.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40768&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=KYRGYZSTAN 


KYRGYZSTAN: Focus on illegal coal mining in the south

Unemployment and poverty continue to fuel illegal coal mining in southern
Kyrgyzstan, a practice which has already taken the lives of scores of
victims in the mountainous Central Asian state. According to a US
Department of Energy report, following the demise of the Soviet Union in
1991, the situation took a turn for the worse. In 1992, Kyrgyzstan
produced 2.37 million mt of coal and consumed 2.73 million, while in 2001,
those figures dropped to 0.47 million and 1.37 million respectively.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40800&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=KYRGYZSTAN 


PAKISTAN: Focus on court decision banning jirga trials

A high court judgment, banning all trials conducted under the jirga system
in the southern province of Sindh, has been hailed by rights activists as
a landmark decision likely to go some distance towards changing the
women's rights landscape in Pakistan. A Sindh High Court (SHC) judge
announced the verdict on Friday after he heard the petition of a young
couple who had married of their own will but feared for their lives after
being declared "karo-kari" (liable to be killed in the name of honour) by
their tribes.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40767&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN 


PAKISTAN: Afghan repatriation increasing

A repatriation programme for Afghan refugees intending to return to their
war-ravaged country has gathered pace since it resumed in early March,
with United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) staff saying
they expected the exodus to increase further, provided the situation
continues to improve in Afghanistan. "The pace has already picked up. We
expect it to go to go up even further, provided the situation in
Afghanistan continues to improve."

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40802&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN 


TURKMENISTAN: Desalination of drinking water needed

Thousands of rural people in the northern Turkmen province of Dashoguz and
parts of neighbouring Lebap province lack access to clean drinking water,
while those in Dashoguz have to consume high salinity water in periods of
low water flow, resulting in serious health implications. "The situation
in terms of providing clean drinking water in rural areas of Lebap and
Dashoguz provinces is that [only] between 10 to 30 percent of the rural
population can have access to it."

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40769&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=TURKMENISTAN 


UZBEKISTAN: Status of Soros Foundation remains bleak

Despite criticism by Washington over Tashkent's decision not to
re-register the Soros Foundation, the largest private donor to Uzbekistan,
the future of the foundation's Open Society Institute (OSI), looks
increasingly bleak, with questions remaining as to what impact - if any -
its closure will have on future international assistance to the country.
"There are not many new developments to report."

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40783&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=UZBEKISTAN 


CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap Uzbekistan's President Islam Karimov
denounced his critics this week, accusing NGOs and rights groups operating
in the country of spreading false reports of repression in Central Asia's
most populous state. In March, Karimov's 15-year rule was challenged when
militants fought street battles with police and set off bombs that killed
47 - most of them militants and police. Tashkent alleges the perpetrators
of the attack were foreign Al-Qaeda elements. During a parliamentary
session on Thursday, Karimov defended the closure earlier this month of
billionaire George Soros's charity foundation in the country, accusing it
of breaking the law and undermining the constitution.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40862&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=CENTRAL_ASIA


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