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

Tel: +92-51-2211451 Ext 484 
Fax: +92-51-2211 450 
e-mail: irin@irin.org.pk


Central Asia
IRIN-CAS Weekly Round-up 153
28 February - 5 March 2004


CONTENTS:

AFGHANISTAN: Plight of "forgotten women" needing health care in rural areas
CENTRAL ASIA: AIDS epidemic threatens region's economic development
CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap
KAZAKHSTAN: Flood victims return home in south as river level falls
KYRGYZSTAN: Bishkek rubbish dump poses environmental hazard
KYRGYZSTAN: Health services struggle to cope with high level of respiratory diseases
PAKISTAN: Authorities arrest suspect in connection with Quetta attacks
PAKISTAN: UNHCR to resume repatriations to Afghanistan from Tuesday
TAJIKISTAN: NGO tackles problem of institutionalised children
TURKMENISTAN: UN agencies hail five-year cooperation agreement
TURKMENISTAN: Major UN drug report raps Ashgabat for lack of cooperation
TURKMENISTAN: Pressure mounts for release of journalists
UZBEKISTAN: Deadline extended for re-registration of foreign NGOs 


AFGHANISTAN: Plight of "forgotten women" needing health care in rural
areas

Visiting patients in an overcrowded and muddy room in Mushkhail district,
southeastern Paktika province, Parwin Jabarkhail, a 38 year-old doctor,
noted the bleak prospects for tens of patiently waiting women, who after
long journeys had reached the only woman doctor in this conservative
province of more than two million.




CENTRAL ASIA: AIDS epidemic threatens region's economic development

Despite a low prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the five former Soviet republics
of Central Asia, home to some 60 million, the epidemic could affect the
region's economic development over the next 10 years if necessary measures
were not taken immediately.

 


CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap

An anti-personnel mine blast claimed the life of a man on the Tajik-Uzbek
border in the Asht district of the northern Tajik province of Soghd on
Sunday, the Tajik Asia-Plus news agency reported on Monday, citing the
Tajik Border Protection Committee. The explosion took place in the area
between the district's villages of Punuk and Sarvak, killing Makhzum
Quziyev, a 37-year-old resident of Punuk. The recent incident brought the
number of mine victims in Tajikistan to 57 since Uzbekistan began planting
land mines on its borders with Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan in 2000.

 


KAZAKHSTAN: Flood victims return home in south as river level falls

Close to 2,000 people affected by recent flooding earlier this year in
southern Kazakhstan have returned to their homes as water levels in the
area continue to stabilise. An emergency agency's report on Monday stated
that some 1,750 people, evacuated after flooding began in early January,
had returned to their homes, with around 340 more to follow. The flooding
was caused by abnormal water discharges from the Chardara reservoir into
the Syrdarya river.

 


KYRGYZSTAN: Bishkek rubbish dump poses environmental hazard

A city rubbish dump in the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, continues to remain an
environmental hazard with levels of methane gas becoming dangerously high
in some parts. The dump "corresponds neither to ecological nor sanitary
requirements."

 


KYRGYZSTAN: Health services struggle to cope with high level of
respiratory diseases

Many patients are undergoing treatment at the National Cardiology Centre's
pulmonary department in the Kyrgyz Capital, Bishkek, where over 40,000
patients with chronic respiratory diseases were registered in 2002. The
World Health Organisation (WHO) contends that the death rate from
respiratory diseases in Kyrgyzstan was the highest among the former Soviet
republics, and much higher than the average European level for the past 20
years.

 


PAKISTAN: Authorities arrest suspect in connection with Quetta attacks

Pakistani authorities have arrested a man suspected of being involved in a
deadly attack on Tuesday on a religious procession in the city of Quetta,
capital of the south-western province of Baluchistan which borders
Afghanistan. At least 44 people were killed and over 150 injured when
suspected Sunni Muslim radicals attacked the religious Shi'ite procession
mourning the martyrdom of Prophet Muhammad's grandson.

 


PAKISTAN: UNHCR to resume repatriations to Afghanistan from Tuesday

The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is
set to resume on Tuesday a repatriation process for Afghan refugees in
Pakistan that was suspended last November following the murder of a UNHCR
employee in Afghanistan. Roughly 1.9 million Afghan refugees have returned
home under the UNHCR repatriation process since 2002. 400,000 were
expected to return home this year under the assistance programme.

 


TAJIKISTAN: NGO tackles problem of institutionalised children

Poverty continues to play a major contributory role in the number of
children being institutionalised in Tajikistan. Since gaining independence
in 1991, an estimated 11,000 children have been placed in 84 state care
centres - otherwise known as 'internats' - throughout the mountainous
Central Asian state.




TURKMENISTAN: UN agencies hail five-year cooperation agreement

The United Nations in Turkmenistan has welcomed the signing of the United
Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF), a strategic planning
document for cooperation between the government and UN agencies for the
next five years (2005-2009). "This is the first UNDAF for Turkmenistan
where the UN system has identified a common strategy moving away from
fragmented programmes to a coherent framework."

 


TURKMENISTAN: Major UN drug report raps Ashgabat for lack of cooperation

Turkmenistan's lack of cooperation with the international community in its
fight against illicit drugs has drawn sharp criticism from the
International Narcotics Control Board (INCB). "As a country in an
extremely important geographical location, with more than 700 km of a
common border with Afghanistan, we would expect Turkmenistan to fully
comply with the provisions of the international drug control treaties and
to cooperate closely and actively with other countries, as well as the
international drug control organs, including [the] INCB, in the fight
against illicit drugs."

 


TURKMENISTAN: Pressure mounts for release of journalists

International criticism over the arrest of two Radio Free Europe/Radio
Liberty (RFE/RL) journalists in Turkmenistan continued on Friday. The
activist warned that the risk of the two men being tortured or mistreated
was also of concern. "At this stage we are really deeply worried."

 


UZBEKISTAN: Deadline extended for re-registration of foreign NGOs

A government decree requiring all foreign NGOs operating in Uzbekistan to
re-register by 1 March has been extended by one month. The decision to
extend the term to 1 April had been made to provide the necessary
conditions, given the presence of some technical problems of (foreign)
NGOs related to their paperwork.

 


IRIN-Asia
Tel: +92-51-2211451
Fax: +92-51-2292918
Email: IrinAsia@irin.org.pk

[This Item is Delivered to the "Asia-English" Service of the UN's IRIN
humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views
of the United Nations. For further information, free subscriptions, or to
change your keywords, contact e-mail: IRIN@ocha.unon.org or Web:  
http://www.irinnews.org . If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post this
item, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Reposting by commercial
sites requires written IRIN permission.]

Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2004


distributed by
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Center for International                  web: www.cidi.org
    Disaster Information             listserv: www.cidi.org/listsub.htm
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Central Asia                       www.cidi.org/humanitarian/irin/casia