Weekly Round-Up - IRINCAS-186: 22-Oct-04
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 186
16 - 22 October 2004
CONTENTS:
AFGHANISTAN: Interview with Mr Mirwais Yasini, head of the Counter
Narcotics Directorate (CND)
AFGHANISTAN: Commanders to receive cash to surrender military units
CENTRAL ASIA: NATO chief continues regional tour
CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap
IRAN: European online media uphold jailed online journalists
KAZAKHSTAN: ADB to focus on inclusive, pro-poor growth
KYRGYZSTAN: News agency to tackle cross-border information flow in
Fergana Valley
KYRGYZSTAN: More than 60 hospitalised with typhoid in south
KYRGYZSTAN: Gay convicts' rights abused in prisons
PAKISTAN: UNHCR donates equipment to women's hospital in Quetta
PAKISTAN: Heavy rains and snowfall disrupt life in north
PAKISTAN: Women leaders to undergo training on political process
TAJIKISTAN: Independent newspapers to be printed in Kyrgyzstan
AFGHANISTAN: Interview with Mr Mirwais Yasini, head of the Counter
Narcotics Directorate (CND)
With the production of opium reaching record levels in Afghanistan, the
role of the CND is increasingly important as efforts to control the drug
are implemented. Mr Yasini discussed with IRIN some of the difficulties
the eradication efforts face in Afghanistan and highlighted the links
between intravenous drug use and the spread of AIDS, which he described as
being, "..like a fireball in the jungle."
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=42847&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN
AFGHANISTAN: Commanders to receive cash to surrender military units
Former Afghan militia commanders will receive regular financial support
after they surrender military units to the UN-backed disarmament,
demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) programme, according to a top
official of the Ministry of Defence (MoD). Following an accelerated DDR
plan, the UN and MoD have designed a new scheme which offers commanders
and senior officers of the Afghan Militia Forces (AMF) units a Financial
Redundancy Package (FRP) in return for the disarmament and demobilisation
of their units.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=43768&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN
CENTRAL ASIA: NATO chief continues regional tour
The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation's (NATO) secretary-general, Jaap de
Hoop Scheffer, on Wednesday met the Uzbek president, Islam Karimov, in the
country's capital, Tashkent, as he continues his first tour of Central
Asia since his appointment last year. "We talked about the collaboration
of Uzbekistan in the context of the Partnership for Peace [programme]," a
NATO spokeswoman told IRIN from Tashkent, adding that the NATO chief
showed his satisfaction with Uzbekistan's participation in the Individual
Partnership Action Plan (IPAP) aimed, for example, at enhancing
peacekeeping forces.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=43763&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=CENTRAL_ASIA
CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap
This week in Central Asia, Russian President Vladimir Putin formally
opened a new Russian military base in Tajikistan, reasserting Moscow's
influence in the former Soviet republic, local media reported. Putin
reportedly said that the base, along with the Russian air base in
Kyrgyzstan established a year ago, would operate to strengthen security in
the region, a move welcomed by US Ambassador to Dushanbe, Richard
Hoagland.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=43807&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=CENTRAL_ASIA
IRAN: European online media uphold jailed online journalists
Twenty European news websites have expressed their concern at the recent
imprisonment of five Iranian online journalists. They made their stand in
a Reporters Without Borders (RSF) appeal over the crackdown against online
media in Iran. "We are always concerned when there are negative effects on
journalists when they do their jobs," Holger Hank, editor of the German
dw-world.de - the online publication of the Deutsche Welle (DW)
international radio and TV service - told IRIN on Thursday from Bonn,
showing DW's support, along with other news organisations, for the RSF
appeal.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=43794&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=IRAN
KAZAKHSTAN: ADB to focus on inclusive, pro-poor growth
The Asian Development Bank's (ADB) 2005-2007 country strategy for
Kazakhstan, a regional leader in terms of economic growth and reforms,
will focus on supporting the Kazakh government's efforts to ensure strong
economic growth to benefit the poor. "Each country strategy and support
programme (CSP) or update is tailored according to the individual
country's needs, government priorities, problems, economic performance and
absorptive capacity, as well as ADB's resources. In Kazakhstan, the recent
economic growth has underscored the need for inclusive, pro-poor growth,"
ADB spokesman Graham Dwyer told IRIN from Manila.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=43741&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=KAZAKHSTAN
KYRGYZSTAN: News agency to tackle cross-border information flow in Fergana
Valley
A regional bureau, AKIpress-FERGANA, of the Kyrgyz AKIpress news agency
has opened in the southern Kyrgyz city of Osh aimed at improving the flow
of cross-border information in Central Asia's Fergana Valley, home to some
10 million people. Eugene Gopkalo, the executive director of the agency,
told IRIN that the bureau would cover seven provinces of the three
countries - Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan - that share the valley.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=43734&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=KYRGYZSTAN
KYRGYZSTAN: More than 60 hospitalised with typhoid in south
More than 60 people have been hospitalised in southern Kyrgyzstan with
suspected typhoid over the past three weeks, according to local health
officials. Tynybek Jorobaev, director of the provincial sanitary and
epidemiological control centre, told IRIN on Wednesday that well over 60
people had been hospitalised in the village of Burgandy in the Nooken
district of the southern Jalal-Abad province. "The diagnosis has been
confirmed in almost 40 cases and 70 percent of the infected patients are
schoolchildren," he said.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=43760&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=KYRGYZSTAN
KYRGYZSTAN: Gay convicts' rights abused in prisons
Prison authorities and inmates are abusing the rights of gay prisoners in
Kyrgyzstan by harsh internal rules dating back to Soviet times and the
strict informal hierarchy within the penal system, according to a new
report by a local NGO, Oasis. "They [gays] are separated from the other
prisoners. They do the dirtiest jobs and are never paid for them. They
wear plastic bags instead of shoes and live in shelters made of boxes,
rubbish, dirty clay and waste. Some of them are exposed to violence on
average 20 times per day," Oasis director Vladimir Tyupin told IRIN on
Wednesday at the official launch of the report.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=43779&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=KYRGYZSTAN
PAKISTAN: UNHCR donates equipment to women's hospital in Quetta
The office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has donated
medical equipment worth US $20,000 to a women's hospital in the western
Pakistani city of Quetta, capital of Balochistan province. "The donation
is under our [UNHCR] programme of assisting medical facilities that serve
both Pakistanis and Afghan refugees in two provinces - Balochistan and
NWFP [North-West Frontier Province]," Jack Redden, a UNHCR spokesman, told
IRIN in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, on Monday.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=43727&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN
PAKISTAN: Heavy rains and snowfall disrupt life in north
Heavy rain and unexpected snowfall earlier this month in northern Pakistan
have caused huge damage to land and households, with at least eight people
reported dead in the mountainous district of Chitral, some 355 km from
Peshawar, capital of North West Frontier Province (NWFP). "First-hand
assessment is not possible as several calamity-hit areas are still
inaccessible. Local and provincial departments are providing tents,
blankets and food items, but the loss is so huge that rehabilitation will
take several months," provincial information minister Asif Iqbal told IRIN
from the northwestern city of Peshawar.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=43770&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN
PAKISTAN: Women leaders to undergo training on political process
Pakistan's women ministry has launched a new programme with the support of
the UN Development Programme (UNDP) for the education and training in
political processes of female leaders and representatives of local bodies
across the country. "The Women's Political School [WPS] project will help
in institutionalising the process of training of women political leaders,
taking into account the dynamic political climate of the country and the
upcoming local government elections in 2005," Nilofar Bakhtiyar, an
adviser to the prime minister on women's development, told IRIN in the
Pakistani capital, Islamabad.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=43780&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN
TAJIKISTAN: Independent newspapers to be printed in Kyrgyzstan
Major Tajik independent newspapers are planning to print abroad following
the recent government crackdown on independent media in the country,
newspaper editors said. Rajabi Mirzo, editor of the independent Ruzi Nav
newspaper, told IRIN in the Tajik capital, Dushanbe, on Friday that he had
held negotiations in Kyrgyzstan about publishing four independent
newspapers, including Ruzi Nav, Nerui Sukhan, Odamu Olam, and Zindagi at
the publishing house, based in the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, and supported
by Freedom House, a US-based pro-democracy group.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=43799&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=TAJIKISTAN
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