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Integrated Regional Information Network for Central Asia

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Central Asia
IRIN-CAS Weekly Round-Up 184
2 - 8 October 2004


CONTENTS:

AFGHANISTAN: Registration for elections completed successfully in
   Pakistan
AFGHANISTAN: Candidates speed up campaigns four days before elections
AFGHANISTAN: Rural Afghans lack awareness on elections
AFGHANISTAN: NATO completes expansion in the north
AFGHANISTAN: Security concerns and ignorance in the run-up to the
   election
AFGHANISTAN: Afghans tie hopes to the elections
AFGHANISTAN-PAKISTAN: Insecurity hampered voter registration in North and
   South Waziristan
AFGHANISTAN: UN envoy optimistic of fair and free election
AFGHANISTAN: Interview with Nangarhar governor on elections
CENTRAL ASIA: Mountain settlement conference opens in Almaty
CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap
KYRGYZSTAN: New NGO to tackle problems of people with disabilities
PAKISTAN: Afghans in Lahore concerned at lack of voting facilities
TAJIKISTAN: Measles campaign proceeding well
TAJIKISTAN: ADB to lend US $46 million to the country over 2 years
TAJIKISTAN: Two minefields successfully cleared
TURKMENISTAN: Heroin use poses a growing challenge
TURKMENISTAN: No invitation for election monitors
UZBEKISTAN: Amnesty calls for moratorium on death sentence


AFGHANISTAN: Registration for elections completed successfully in Pakistan

Efforts to register hundreds of thousands of Afghan refugees living in
Pakistan to vote in the upcoming presidential elections finished on Monday
with a high level of participation. "We are extremely pleased and we
consider the registration process a success," Darren Boisvert, a media
officer for the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), told IRIN
on Tuesday from the Pakistani capital, Islamabad.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=43511&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN

AFGHANISTAN: Candidates speed up campaigns four days before elections
Election campaigns are reaching a climax in the capital Kabul and the
provinces, just four days before Afghanistan's first ever direct
presidential election on Saturday. Wednesday is the last day of
campaigning and in almost every Afghan city candidates or their supporters
are holding gatherings and rallies, while at the same time meeting tribal
elders, local commanders or influential community leaders in a bid to
guarantee more votes.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=43510&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN

AFGHANISTAN: Rural Afghans lack awareness on elections Sitting around a
wood fire oven in a village bakery in Dar-e-Zargar, Magul and her fellow
women know very little about Afghanistan's first ever direct presidential
elections, to be held in less than a week's time. Although all eligible
members of her family had voting cards, they still didn't know who was who
amongst the 18 presidential candidates. "We have neither radio or TV, nor
can we go outside our homes to listen to the candidates in public," the
45-year-old housewife told IRIN in the Paghman district, 26 km west of the
capital, Kabul.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=43507&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN

AFGHANISTAN: NATO completes expansion in the north More than 2,000 troops
have been deployed in Afghanistan by the North Atlantic Treaty
Organisation (NATO) to support the Afghan security forces during
Saturday's presidential polls, NATO officials confirmed to IRIN on
Wednesday. With some 9,000 soldiers, NATO now has troops in all five
northern provinces in addition to the main deployment in the Afghan
capital, Kabul, under the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).
The fifth ISAF Provisional Reconstruction Team (PRT) reached the northern
province of Baghlan on 1 October.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=43530&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN

AFGHANISTAN: Security concerns and ignorance in the run-up to the election
As Afghanistan's first ever presidential election nears, many people lack
essential knowledge about the electoral process, already weakened by
threats from insurgents and the reduced participation of women in rural
areas. Voters in villages, populated widely by illiterate people, are
often not aware of how many candidates there are let alone their policies.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=43529&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN

AFGHANISTAN: Afghans tie hopes to the elections Ordinary Afghans are
eagerly awaiting the outcome of Saturday's presidential elections, a
milestone in the country's long road back to peace, prosperity and
stability. "I left my family in Germany to move to Kabul until the end of
the elections. Only then will I decide whether or not to remain," Jamshid
told IRIN, expressing his hopes for the election.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=43553&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN

AFGHANISTAN-PAKISTAN: Insecurity hampered voter registration in North and
South Waziristan The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has
been unable to register Afghan voters in Pakistan's embattled North and
South Waziristan agencies due to prevailing tension in the area, which
lies close to the Afghan border. "We have done enough to register as many
Afghan refugees as we could so that the maximum number of the Afghans
living in Pakistan can take part in the first ever presidential election
in Afghanistan," Peter Erben, director of IOM's Out-of-Country
Registration & Voting (IOM OCRV) programme, told IRIN on Wednesday in the
western Pakistani city of Peshawar.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=43550&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN-PAKISTAN

AFGHANISTAN: UN envoy optimistic of fair and free election Despite the
challenges, the situation in Afghanistan is favourable for a fair and free
election, said the United Nations special envoy for the country on
Wednesday. Jean Arnault, the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative
for Afghanistan, said the historic election in three days time would draw
to an end the rule of the gun in a country ravaged by over two decades of
war.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=43539&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN

AFGHANISTAN: Interview with Nangarhar governor on elections After decades
of war and conflict, Afghans will chose their president on Saturday, this
time by ballots not bullets. Following a series of incidents and attacks
on the voter registration process ahead of the elections scheduled for
Saturday, the security of the polling stations remains a major concern for
Afghans and the international community. In an interview with IRIN, Haji
Din Mohammad, governor of the troubled Nangarhar province, said that
people in rural areas had voluntarily decided to secure the polling
stations themselves, adding there were not enough international
peacekeepers or members of the Afghan security forces to secure polling
stations.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=43563&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN

CENTRAL ASIA: Mountain settlement conference opens in Almaty The third
annual international conference of the Central Asian Mountainous
Settlements Alliance openned in the Kazakh capital, Almaty, on Monday,
aimed at strengthening social mobilisation and development of villages.
"This is an opportunity to highlight some of the challenges facing
mountain communities in Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan," Aigul
Zhaneserikova, country representative of the Central Asian Mountain
Partnership (CAMP) which is organising the event, told IRIN from Almaty.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=43470&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=CENTRAL_ASIA

CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap The run-off election to the lower chamber
of the Kazakh parliament for those candidates who polled less than 50
percent following the first round held on 19 September was held in 22 of
the 67 constituencies on Sunday, the Kazakh Kazinform news agency
reported. A total of 44 candidates contested the election in these
constituencies, with the majority of them being nominees of pro-government
parties. The Kazakh National Network of Independent Observers (NNIO)
concluded that gross violations had taken place at all the stages of the
election process. Compared with the previous parliamentary polls, this
election had not been a step forward but had shown significant regression,
the group claimed.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=43568&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=CENTRAL_ASIA

KYRGYZSTAN: New NGO to tackle problems of people with disabilities People
living with disabilities in Kyrgyzstan are set to establish an NGO to
tackle their problems and protect their rights, IRIN learnt on Tuesday.
"We want to unite and establish a national association of people living
with disabilities to tackle our problems with regard to improving living
conditions," Asipa Musaeva, head of the Kyrgyz Association of the Female
Handicapped (KAFC), said in the capital, Bishkek.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=43501&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=KYRGYZSTAN

PAKISTAN: Afghans in Lahore concerned at lack of voting facilities Even
though millions of Afghan refugees have left Pakistan over the past two
years under the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) repatriation programme, including thousands from Lahore,
Afghan refugees remain a part of the Punjabi capital's cityscape. Though
accurate estimates of their numbers are hard to come by, it is estimated
that at least 7,000 Afghans are scattered across the city.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=43500&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN

TAJIKISTAN: Measles campaign proceeding well Efforts to vaccinate up to
three million people against measles in Tajikistan are proceeding well,
one week after the campaign's launch. "We're only on the first week and we
have already covered more than half the target group," Yukie Mokuo, head
of office for the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), told IRIN from the Tajik
capital, Dushanbe, on Monday, noting that they needed to sustain the
momentum to ensure that coverage was kept at its highest and adverse
reaction cases at minimum and manageable levels.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=43484&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=TAJIKISTAN

TAJIKISTAN: ADB to lend US $46 million to the country over 2 years The
Asian Development Bank (ADB) plans to lend Tajikistan more than US $46
million over the next two years in an effort to bolster rural development
and enhance regional cooperation. "The indicative annual lending is set at
$23 million for each of the two years [2005-2006], which could further be
strengthened by additional resources allocated for regional cooperation,"
Graham Dwyer, an ADB spokesman, told IRIN from Manila on Monday.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=43479&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=TAJIKISTAN

TAJIKISTAN: Two minefields successfully cleared Another two minefields
have successfully been cleared in central Tajikistan, a move set to
benefit thousands of rural residents, according to a demining expert.

"We've been working at three sites in the Tavildara district [central
Tajikistan], in Juri Bolo, Ichtiyon and Luli Kharvi settlements. Demining
work has been completed at the Ichtiyon and Juri Bolo sites, but we
haven't yet officially handed them over to local administrations," Parviz
Mavlonkulov, an operations coordinator for the Tajik Mine Action Centre
(TMAC), told IRIN from the Tajik capital, Dushanbe, on Wednesday.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=43551&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=TAJIKISTAN

TURKMENISTAN: Heroin use poses a growing challenge Murat, not his real
name, is steadily working the phone in search of something. At first
glance, it is unclear why he appears so worried, but after listening to
him speak on the phone, it is clear he is after his next hit of heroin.
The unemployed 34-year-old, a resident of the Turkmen capital, Ashgabat,
does not consider himself an addict, given the stigma attached to it. He
maintains he can quit any time, whenever he wants. At present, the
financial burden of supporting his two children lies with his spouse, who
teaches and does extra work to provide for the family - and her husband's
heroin habit.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=42839&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=TURKMENISTAN

TURKMENISTAN: No invitation for election monitors The Turkmen government
has shown little interest in inviting any international observers to
monitor the parliamentary elections scheduled for December. Rights
activists have described the polls in the secretive country as mere window
dressing. The office of the special envoy of the Organisation for Security
and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to Central Asia, Martti Ahtisaari,
confirmed to IRIN that the Turkmen government was not planning to invite
any international organisation to monitor the 19 December polls.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=43518&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=TURKMENISTAN

UZBEKISTAN: Amnesty calls for moratorium on death sentence Amnesty
International (AI) has called for a moratorium on the death sentence in
Uzbekistan, the only country in Central Asia that still practices capital
punishment. "Uzbekistan should follow the example of its Central Asian
neighbours and fundamentally review its policy on the death penalty," Anna
Sunder-Plassman, a researcher for the watchdog group, told IRIN on Monday
from London.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=43476&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=UZBEKISTAN


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