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 156
6 - 12 November 2003


CONTENTS:

AFGHANISTAN: Regional commanders continue with illegal taxation
AFGHANISTAN: Commanders given cash incentives to disband militias
CENTRAL ASIA: Region faces major education challenges - UNESCO report
CENTRAL ASIA: High priced commodities stall regional reform - EBRD
CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap
KAZAKHSTAN: Radioactive waste on the move, possible threat - NGO
KYRGYZSTAN: Conditions at temporary detention facilities grim
KYRGYZSTAN: ADB reviews progress after a decade
PAKISTAN: New machine-readable passport could reduce human trafficking
PAKISTAN: Arid farming initiative launched in Balochistan
TAJIKISTAN: New hope for children of HIV-infected mothers
TAJIKISTAN: Donor conference spells out medium-term commitment
TURKMENISTAN: Interview with US Ambassador Tracey Ann Jacobson


AFGHANISTAN: Regional commanders continue with illegal taxation

After months of hard work, Kaka Hafiz, a 55-year-old rice farmer from the 
northeastern Baghlan province, reluctantly separated part of his harvest 
for the local commander. Hafiz was forced into it as part of an illegal 
tax scheme imposed on thousands of farmers living in the area, locally 
known as 'ushur' or one-tenth of the whole harvest."He [the local 
commander] says that he is our guardian and the guardian of our families 
and our agriculture and therefore is entitled to ushur," Hafiz told IRIN 
in Kilagai district.




AFGHANISTAN: Commanders given cash incentives to disband militias

Commander Zalmai, better known by his nom de guerre, Toofan (Storm), lay 
on a soft Afghan silk carpet and traditional pillows in the garden of his 
formidable fortress-like house on the outskirts of Kabul. Surrounded by 
flowers and imported signing birds, the much-feared leader was working on 
a plan to get rich. The commander, who was one of the most powerful 
warlords in Kabul, with more than 2,000 troops at his disposal, now leans 
more towards economic development than battling rival militias.




CENTRAL ASIA: Region faces major education challenges - UNESCO report

In a new report on education on Monday, the United Nations Educational, 
Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) says that Central Asia faces 
a number of key challenges, despite some signs of improvement. "The region 
has experienced some setbacks in enrollment in almost all levels of 
education, but we had an indication of recovery at the end of the last 
decade," Nicole Bella, a team member and author of the Education for All 
(EFA) Global Monitoring Report told IRIN.




CENTRAL ASIA: High priced commodities stall regional reform - EBRD

An increase in commodity prices throughout the world, including Central 
Asia, is impeding economic reform in some countries of the region, a new 
report by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said 
this week. "There is a risk and a tendency that reforms stall if countries 
have it too good," Sam Fankhauser, the EBRD's director of policy study and 
sector strategy, told IRIN.




CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap

This week in Central Asia saw signs that some countries are cracking down 
on human trafficking in the region. In Tajikistan, a city court in the 
capital, Dushanbe, sentenced a group of people involved in human 
trafficking, the Iranian media reported on Monday. Three women were 
sentenced to up to 14 years in prison.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=44119&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=CENTRAL_ASIA


KAZAKHSTAN: Radioactive waste on the move, possible threat - NGO

Kazakhstan is moving radioactive waste from the Baykonur space centre to a 
former nuclear testing ground in the northern Kazakh city of 
Semipalatinsk. Environmental NGOs told IRIN the move carried health and 
safety risks. "The preparatory work [on transporting the radioactive 
waste] has been going on for a while. It is very likely that the actual 
work on moving them has already started," Sergey Chelnokov, a senior 
expert on substance control of the Kazakh committee on nuclear energy, 
told IRIN.




KYRGYZSTAN: Conditions at temporary detention facilities grim

A group of NGOs and representatives of local authorities in Kyrgyzstan's 
southern Jalal-Abad province have appealed to the country's leadership to 
create a public commission to investigate conditions at temporary 
detention facilities (TDFs). The appeal followed a discussion of the 
monitoring of detention facilities conducted by a local NGO - 
'Spravedlivost' or 'Justice'. "Starvation, cold, lack of basic 
conveniences, poor sanitation and torture are just some of the 
characteristics of TDFs," one of the researchers told IRIN.




KYRGYZSTAN: ADB reviews progress after a decade

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has begun a new credit line for 
entrepreneurs in Kyrgyzstan without government guarantees, as a sign of 
its confidence in the republic's political and economic reforms since 
independence. Half of the incoming aid to the republic will be grant 
based."All the credits being sent to Kyrgyzstan have been given on 
preferential terms. Now Kyrgyzstan is not the country it used to be 12 
years ago. Our main task is poverty alleviation in the country as well as 
regional cooperation improvement," ADB President Tadao Chino said.




PAKISTAN: New machine-readable passport could reduce human trafficking

Pakistani authorities have introduced new machine-readable passports 
(MRPs) incorporating special security features designed to check human 
trafficking and forgery. "We have filled in all the basic requirements of 
International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). The new passports 
contain digitally printed personal data with a photograph, which cannot be 
tampered with like the previous manual ones," Junaid Mushtaq Qureshi, 
manager of the MRPs programme at the national immigration and passport 
department, told IRIN.




PAKISTAN: Arid farming initiative launched in Balochistan

A new arid farming initiative has been launched to assist rural 
communities in drought-hit areas of Pakistan's southwestern province of 
Balochistan. "The purpose of the project is to improve the livelihood and 
food security of the rural people of Balochistan through introducing new 
arid farming technology, livestock management, agro-processing, marketing 
techniques and water conservation strategies," Syed Muhammad Ali, 
programme officer at the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) told 
IRIN.




TAJIKISTAN: New hope for children of HIV-infected mothers

Twenty seven-year-old Shakhlo (not her real name) was not happy to find 
out that she was pregnant. She couldn't face having a baby. "What fate can 
a child of an HIV-infected woman face?!" she asked herself. The young 
woman had an abortion during the first month of pregnancy. "This happened 
two years ago in Khujand [capital of the northern Sogd province, some 350 
km to the north of the capital, Dushanbe]," Rano Alieva, deputy head of 
the health ministry's maternal and child health department, told IRIN.




TAJIKISTAN: Donor conference spells out medium-term commitment

A donor conference held in the Tajik capital Dushanbe has reiterated 
support for poverty reduction and reform efforts to ensure sustainable 
development in the country. Donors looked at progress since May 2003 when 
the first consultative group (CG) meeting was held, reviewed disbursements 
to date and discussed emerging issues, Cevdet Denizer, the World Bank's 
country manager for Tajikistan, told IRIN.




TURKMENISTAN: Interview with US Ambassador Tracey Ann Jacobson

Little is known about Turkmenistan, a reclusive Central Asian state of 
just 5.5 million. Since gaining independence in 1991, the former Soviet 
republic has remained largely isolated, despite its vast energy reserves, 
estimated to be amongst the largest in the world. In an interview with 
IRIN, US Ambassador to Turkmenistan Ann Jacobson offered her views on 
where the country is today and the many challenges it faces for the 
future, including areas of education, economic reform, human rights and 
the development of civil society.




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