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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Fax: +92-51-2211 450 
e-mail: irin@irin.org.pk


Central Asia
IRIN-CAS Weekly Round-Up 178
21 - 27 August 2004


CONTENTS:

AFGHANISTAN: Afghan voter registration exceeds 10 million mark
AFGHANISTAN: Demobilised officers to train as teachers
AFGHANISTAN-IRAN-PAKISTAN: IOM prepares voter registration for Afghan
   refugees
CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap
IRAN: Afghan repatriation convoys resume
KAZAKHSTAN: Meningitis outbreak registered in Almaty and Semipalatinsk
KYRGYZSTAN: More than twenty hospitalised with suspected anthrax in south
PAKISTAN: Polio cases down by fifty percent
TAJIKISTAN: IOM says new passport system problematic for migrants
TURKMENISTAN: Rights groups call for release of prisoner of conscience
TURKMENISTAN: Greater compliance in international drug control needed
UZBEKISTAN: Vitamin A supplementation campaign continues
UZBEKISTAN: Al-Qaeda-linked group faces up to 20 years imprisonment


AFGHANISTAN: Afghan voter registration exceeds 10 million mark

The number of Afghans registered to vote in the upcoming poll on 9 October 
has passed the 10 million mark. As of 21 August, over 10.35 million 
eligible Afghans have registered, according to the United Nations 
Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA). Of that total, 58.6 percent are 
men and 41.4 percent are women. "These numbers are not final as data 
continues to come in and be verified at the data centre in Kabul before it 
is entered into the database."

Full copy of this report


AFGHANISTAN: Demobilised officers to train as teachers

The Ministry of Education (MoE) and the Afghanistan New Beginning 
Programme (ANBP) have joined forces to identify qualified military 
officers, who have entered the Disarmament Demobilisation and 
Reintegration programme (DDR) to fill vacant teaching posts. The DDR 
process helps soldiers to fit back into society through training and 
employment.

Full copy of this report


AFGHANISTAN-IRAN-PAKISTAN: IOM prepares voter registration for Afghan 
refugees

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is preparing to conduct 
voter registration for Afghans residing in Pakistan, ahead of 
Afghanistan's first presidential elections scheduled for 9 October this 
year. "The IOM will run an extensive public awareness campaign to inform 
Afghans of their right to vote - especially encouraging female 
participation."

Full copy of this 
report


CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap

Turkmenistan's top Muslim leader had been dismissed, state media reported 
on Wednesday. Chief Mufti Kakageldy Vepayev was sacked by the country's 
religious council for "serious failings in carrying out his religious work 
and for his undignified behaviour", the Neitralny Turkmenistan newspaper 
said. The announcement gave no further details of the mufti's alleged 
failings.

Full copy of this report


IRAN: Afghan repatriation convoys resume

Convoys of returning Afghans from Iran have resumed after a temporary 
suspension of two days due to insecurity around the western Afghan city of 
Herat which left some 13,000 Afghan returnees stranded on both sides of 
the border. The backlog of returnees stranded on the border inside Iran 
was cleared on Friday and Saturday, with a resumption of new convoys 
beginning on Sunday."

Full copy of this report


KAZAKHSTAN: Meningitis outbreak registered in Almaty and Semipalatinsk

More than one thousand people, mostly children, have been hospitalised in 
Kazakhstan over the past three months with meningitis, including 96 
meningococcal infections, 474 viral and 435 bacterial forms. Four people 
have died of the disease. "There is a meningitis outbreak in Almaty and 
Semipalatinsk cities going on now and some 85 percent of the patients are 
children."

Full copy of this report


KYRGYZSTAN: More than twenty hospitalised with suspected anthrax in south

More than twenty people with suspected anthrax have been hospitalised in 
southern Kyrgyzstan over the past week. The infected people participated 
in the slaughtering of a sick cow and the distribution of its meat. The 
animal was purchased by local residents in neighbouring Uzbekistan, 
smuggled across the border and slaughtered without a veterinary 
certification.

Full copy of this report


PAKISTAN: Polio cases down by fifty percent

The number of polio cases in Pakistan has dropped by more than fifty 
percent - with only 23 new cases having been reported so far in 2004, 
compared with 50 cases reported over the same period last year. ~SIt 
[polio] is limited to just a few areas now and we hope within next six to 
eight months, it [Pakistan] will be polio-free." Polio vaccination 
campaigns were initiated in the South Asian nation ten years ago, they 
later turned into a house-to-house immunisation programme in 1999.

Full copy of this report


TAJIKISTAN: IOM says new passport system problematic for migrants

Moscow's decision requiring Tajik nationals to have national passports to 
enter Russia next year could prove problematic for hundreds of thousands 
of labour migrants from the impoverished Central Asian state. Current 
regulations allow Tajiks to travel back and forth using only their 
national identification documents. ~SNo less than 500,000 people will be 
impacted by the decision."

Full copy of this report


TURKMENISTAN: Rights groups call for release of prisoner of conscience

Rights groups are calling for the immediate and unconditional release of 
Mukhametkuli Aymuradov, a prisoner of conscious now serving a 33-year-long 
sentence in energy-rich Turkmenistan for alleged anti-state crimes; 
charges many believe to be fabricated. The 59-year-old grandfather, who 
survived a heart attack earlier, suffers from a number of ailments, 
including a gastric ulcer, cholecystitis, and recurring inflammation of 
the kidney and bladder.

Full copy of this report


TURKMENISTAN: Greater compliance in international drug control needed

More work was needed in bringing Turkmenistan in compliance with 
international drug control treaties in the region, the International 
Narcotics Board (INCB), an independent UN body monitoring global drug 
proliferation. Turkmenistan shares more than 700 km of border with 
Afghanistan, the top producer of opium in the world today, but remained 
the only country neighbouring the fledgling state yet to participate.

Full copy of this report


UZBEKISTAN: Vitamin A supplementation campaign continues

A micronutrient supplementation campaign aimed at ensuring sufficient 
intake of vitamin A amongst millions of Uzbek children has been running 
this week. The Uzbek health ministry launched its 'healthy child week' 
campaign on Monday in an effort to provide vitamin A supplementation to 
all youngsters in the country between six and 59 months old, or some 2.5 
million children.

Full copy of this report


UZBEKISTAN: Al-Qaeda-linked group faces up to 20 years imprisonment

The Uzbek Supreme Court postponed on Monday the sentencing of 13 men and 
two women, charged with terrorism aiming to establish an Islamic khalifat 
in Central Asia's largest country. The group is also charged with 
organising an extremist religious group and attempting to overthrow the 
constitutional regime of Uzbekistan. The accused, aged between 22 and 40, 
have been found guilty of links to a wave of suicide attacks and shootouts 
with police that killed at least 47 people in Uzbekistan in late March and 
early April.

Full copy of this report


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