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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e-mail: irin@irin.org.pk


Central Asia
IRIN-CAS Weekly Round-Up 179
28 August - 3 September 2004


CONTENTS:

AFGHANISTAN: UN completes deworming programme
AFGHANISTAN: World Bank to launch job creation programme for 10,000
AFGHANISTAN: Interview with local commander with links to southern poppy
   cultivation
AFGHANISTAN: Urgent assistance needed to combat drought
CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap
IRAN: Interview with UNHCR head to mark the return of one million Afghans
   refugees
KYRGYZSTAN: More than 30 people hospitalised with malaria in south
PAKISTAN: Over 2.2 million Afghans have returned - UNHCR
PAKISTAN: New devolution study links development to decentralization
PAKISTAN: Child advocacy groups press for reform of justice system
PAKISTAN: Focus on runaway children
PAKISTAN: Country enters drought phase - water authority
TAJIKISTAN: Urgent need for TB campaign - health ministry
TAJIKISTAN: Landmine victims struggle for recognition
TURKMENISTAN: Tajik refugees await naturalisation


AFGHANISTAN: UN completes deworming programme

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in Afghanistan announced
that it had completed the largest deworming campaign ever undertaken,
reaching over 4.5 million schoolchildren in Afghanistan. It was the first
time that the UN had undertaken a national deworming programme. "This is
an extremely significant contribution to the efforts of the Afghan
government to improve the education of Afghan children."




AFGHANISTAN: World Bank to launch job creation programme for 10,000

The World Bank is working to create employment for thousands of Afghan
former combatants. According to the Bank, the three-year programme will
provide immediate jobs for 10,000 unskilled ex-soldiers and provide up to
300 former officers with employment, training and equipment to start up
small businesses. "This project provides job opportunities for those
ex-combatants who have joined civilian life under DDR [the Disarmament,
Demobilisation and Reintegration inititiative]."




AFGHANISTAN: Interview with local commander with links to southern poppy
cultivation

Arghandab, Mohammad Azim, a warlord based in the district of Arghandab, 20
km south of Kandahar city in the southern province of the same name, has
spoken in an interview with IRIN of his personal involvement in poppy
cultivation and warned that the poppy eradication campaign under way this
year would lead to economic and social instability, and the rural
population turning against Kabul's already weak authority.




AFGHANISTAN: Urgent assistance needed to combat drought

The government of Afghanistan and the United Nations launched an emergency
appeal on Wednesday to combat drought in the war-ravaged country.
According to the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA),
US $71.3 million is needed immediately to combat the worst effects of the
drought. "The government, the United Nations and non-governmental
organisations [NGOs] have launched a joint appeal to combat the worst
drought that the country has faced, now in its sixth year."




CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap

Kazakhstan may erect barriers on part of its Uzbek border to reduce
smuggling, the Russian Interfax news agency reported on Wednesday.
Kenzhekhan Tulebayev, deputy head of the Southern Kazakhstan region
bordering Uzbekistan, said border communities were still not used to the
idea that the border is a reality. "However, with the conclusion of the
border demarcation, the situation will change. The Uzbek side is already
stretching barbed wire across their border. We will do the same," said
Tulebayev.




IRAN: Interview with UNHCR head to mark the return of one million Afghans
refugees

One million Afghan refugees have officially returned home from Iran since
the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
started its voluntary repatriation programme in April 2002. This means
that the Afghan refugee population in Iran has been halved, with a million
Afghans remaining in Iran. Despite continuing instability in parts of
Afghanistan, Afghans have not been deterred from repatriating and in
recent weeks up to 4,000 Afghans a day have been making the journey back.




KYRGYZSTAN: More than 30 people hospitalised with malaria in south

More than 30 people with malaria have been hospitalised in southern
Kyrgyzstan over the past week. Some 35 hospitalised people were under
medical observation in the Aravan district of the southern Kyrgyz province
of Osh. Those who had contact with infected people were also being
examined as a preventive measure. The local state administration officials
noted that over 60 people had contracted malaria already.




PAKISTAN: Over 2.2 million Afghans have returned - UNHCR

More than 2.2 million Afghans have returned home so far from Pakistan
since the voluntary repatriation programme of the office of the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) started in 2002. "Over
300,000 Afghans have returned to their homeland since the UNHCR voluntary
repatriation programme resumed in March this year." All the Afghans living
in Pakistan wishing to return can avail themselves of UNHCR assistance,
consisting of a travel grant ranging from 3 to US $30, plus additional
grants to help with re-integration in Afghanistan.




PAKISTAN: New devolution study links development to decentralization

A new study on the progress of Pakistan's Devolution Plan (DP) has
underlined the need for a reassessment of functions mandated to provincial
and local governments under a scheme to give devolution greater momentum
and impact than it has so far achieved. According to the report released
last week, provincial government needs to demonstrate a commitment to
strengthening the role of local government, currently some local functions
are being retained at provincial level.




PAKISTAN: Child advocacy groups press for reform of justice system

Pakistan's leading child advocacy groups have urged the government to
establish exclusive juvenile courts to end the problem of delayed trials,
which has led to a situation in which 80 percent of juvenile prisoners are
those on remand. "As of December 2003, some 2,500 juvenile offenders were
awaiting trial out of a total juvenile prisoner population of 3,061, while
the country has only one exclusive juvenile court."




PAKISTAN: Focus on runaway children

Each night, around the niches and alcoves of the sprawling Data Darbar
shrine complex at the heart of Lahore, a small army of ragged boys lies on
bedding of torn sheets and dusty sacks. The precise number of runaway
children in Lahore, or across the country, is unknown. Estimates by
organisations working with street children suggest there are at least
5,000 in the city at any one time, with the largest numbers based around
Data Darbar or the railway station.




PAKISTAN: Country enters drought phase - water authority

Pakistan has entered a drought phase, the South Asian country's water
authority said on Thursday, citing critically low water levels in major
reservoirs. The Indus River System Authority (IRSA), which allocates water
to the provinces, said that the country's water reservoirs at Tarbela,
near Peshawar, capital of North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and Mangla,
100 km southeast of the capital, Islamabad, contained only half the water
they should in the Rabi or winter sowing season, for the first time in the
country's history.




TAJIKISTAN: Urgent need for TB campaign - health ministry

Health authorities are concerned that since independence, Tajikistan has
had no national campaign to vaccinate school aged children against
tuberculosis (TB) - a disease that is in danger of reaching epidemic
proportions in the impoverished Central Asian state. "Although a national
programme on TB prophylaxis has been adopted, this has not been enacted
primarily due to lack of funds to purchase the vaccine."




TAJIKISTAN: Landmine victims struggle for recognition

Landmines remain a concern in Tajikistan, where more than 330 people have
been injured or killed by these weapons over the past 10 years. Assistance
to affected people and their families needs to be enhanced. The
orthopaedic centre is the country's main facility providing prosthetic
devices to people in need and is supported by the Ministry of Labour and
Social Protection (MLSP), Tajikistan's Red Crescent Society (TRCS) and the
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).




TURKMENISTAN: Tajik refugees await naturalisation

A community of 300 Tajik refugee families lives in the settlement called
Babadurmaz in the southern province of Akhal, an hour's drive eastwards
from the Turkmen capital, Ashgabat. They have been settled in the region
for many years and are well integrated into Turkmen society but, despite
being ethnic Turkmen, are still awaiting naturalization. "I came here in
1992 because of the (civil) war. We are Turkmen and this is the land of
our forefathers."




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