Weekly Round-Up - IRINAS-02: 14-Jan-05
U N I T E D N A T I O N S
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Asia
IRIN-AS Weekly Round-Up 02
8 - 14 January 2005
CONTENTS:
AFGHANISTAN: Community caught in crossfire in need of assistance
AFGHANISTAN: Containment of heavy weapons stalled in Panjshir
AFGHANISTAN-PAKISTAN: Lack of infrastructure and jobs impedes return of
Afghans
AFGHANISTAN-IRAN: UNHCR concerned over wave of refugee arrests
CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap
KAZAKHSTAN: ILO works to boost local capacity
KAZAKHSTAN: Maternal mortality remains source of concern
KAZAKHSTAN: Heavy snow disrupts life in capital and north
KYRGYZSTAN: Focus on gay and lesbian rights
PAKISTAN: Leishmaniasis outbreak in parts of Balochistan and Sindh
UZBEKISTAN: Drainage water polluting the Amudarya
AFGHANISTAN: Community caught in crossfire in need of assistance
Hundreds of people, including women and children, were braving freezing
winter weather in the isolated Khartzan valley of the northwestern Faryab
province after their houses whad been looted by local armed groups, Faryab
governor Amer Latif told IRIN from the provincial capital, Maimana, on
Wednesday. Latif said the incident happened several weeks ago, but
thatnews of their plight had only just filtered out of the isolated valley
due to heavy snow.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45053&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN
AFGHANISTAN: Containment of heavy weapons stalled in Panjshir
A UN-backed programme to contain heavy weapons in the northern Panjshir
Valley has been temporarily interrupted by local ex-militia groups who
threatened to block the valley if the process continued. The incident
happened on Monday in Dashtak district, about 100 km north of the capital,
Kabul, a day after the UN and the Afghan Ministry of Defence (MOD)
officially launched the cantonment of heavy weapons in Panjshir, already
delayed by several weeks after prolonged negotiations.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45001&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN
AFGHANISTAN-PAKISTAN: Lack of infrastructure and jobs impedes return of
Afghans
Lack of infrastructure and livelihood opportunities in the southern belt
of Afghanistan, has been impeding returns, according to an annual survey
of voluntary repatriation by the office of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Pakistan. "It's a big, ongoing
problem. There is not enough development and insecurity makes it hard to
bring development. UNHCR is not a development agency as such, but it has
provided assistance for building about 100,000 houses inside Afghanistan,"
Jack Redden, a UNHCR spokesman, told IRIN in the capital, Islamabad.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45019&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN-PAKISTAN
AFGHANISTAN-IRAN: UNHCR concerned over wave of refugee arrests
Hundreds of Afghans have been arrested by Iranian police in a crackdown
against illegal migrants, according to press reports. The Iranian daily,
Iran Emrooz, said on Sunday that legal Afghan refugees have also been
arrested and that the arrests have been taking place in the eastern cities
of Zahedan, Zabol, Mashad and Kerman over the last two weeks. The
newspaper said those arrested were held in a detention centre for up to
four days and that some claim to have been beaten, although the office of
the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said that so
far, they could not confirm these reports.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45021&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN-IRAN
CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap
Kyrgyz opposition and human rights organisations on Saturday began
picketing the parliament building in the capital, Bishkek, demanding the
restoration of registration for parliamentary candidate, leader of the
Fatherland opposition coalition Roza Otunbayeva. Ex-foreign minister and
former envoy to the US and UK, Otunbayeva was registered by a district
elections commission in the capital on 6 January, but her registration was
subsequently cancelled because she failed to meet the "residence"
threshold. Under current Kyrgyz legislation, a candidate running for
parliament should have lived in the country for five years prior to the
polls. Otunbayeva's supporters claimed the decision was politically
motivated.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45071&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=CENTRAL_ASIA
KAZAKHSTAN: ILO works to boost local capacity
Selling apples is Slava Kim's life. "The apples here are famous. The best
in Kazakhstan," the 26-year-old boasted outside Taldikorgan's fruit and
vegetable market, provincial capital of Kazakhstan's southeastern Almaty
province, which takes its name from the fruit. Despite his enthusiasm,
however, the apples, renowned for their variety and flavour, never make
their way to the country's commercial capital and largest market, Almaty,
just 270 km to the southeast, much less the rest of the vast Central Asian
nation of 15 million.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45027&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=KAZAKHSTAN
KAZAKHSTAN: Maternal mortality remains source of concern
The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), in collaboration with the
Kazakh government, aims to reduce the level of maternal mortality in
Central Asia's largest nation, where rates over the past decade reveal
little sign of significant progress. "The maternal mortality rate (MMR)
remains a source of concern," Juan Aguilar, UNICEF area representative for
the Central Asian republics and Kazakhstan, told IRIN in the Kazakh
commercial capital of Almaty, noting that mothers continued to die in the
former Soviet republic during birth.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=44992&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=KAZAKHSTAN
KAZAKHSTAN: Heavy snow disrupts life in capital and north
Nearly 900 people stranded on the roads in central and northern Kazakhstan
following heavy snowfall have been rescued, according to the country's
emergency ministry. "In [the northern] Kostanai province some 800 people,
mainly fishermen, were evacuated to Kostanai city [provincial capital] on
Sunday. They were caught by heavy snow and trapped on the roads," Kairat
Tarbaev, a spokesman for the Kazakh emergency ministry, told IRIN from the
capital, Astana, on Monday.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=44991&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=KAZAKHSTAN
KYRGYZSTAN: Focus on gay and lesbian rights
Kyrgyzstan is known as an island of gay tolerance in an otherwise
oppressive region. Some gay people come here from Uzbekistan and
Turkmenistan, where homosexuality is punishable by law, in search of a
more favourable and accepting environment. The number of gay and lesbian
groups in the country's growing as a consequence. On Saturday a new
support group called "Labrys" was launched in the capital, Bishkek, to
promote the rights of lesbians.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45004&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=KYRGYZSTAN
PAKISTAN: Leishmaniasis outbreak in parts of Balochistan and Sindh
An outbreak of leishmaniasis, a skin disease caused by the bite of a sand
fly, has been reported in parts of the southern Pakistani provinces of
Sindh and Balochistan. "There are so many cases in the Dadu district of
Sindh alone. The number of cases reported to health authorities has gone
up from 402 to more than 2,900 in just four days. And we are receiving
similar reports from the adjoining districts of Sukkur, Jacobabad, Larkana
and Naushero Feroze," Dr Hadi Bux Jatoi, director-general (DG) of health
services in Sindh told IRIN.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=44993&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN
UZBEKISTAN: Drainage water polluting the Amudarya
The return of drainage water back to the Amudarya River is a major source
of water contamination in northwestern Uzbekistan, leading to health
implications for the local population, observers say. "Drinking water is
very salty in Nukus [the capital of Karakalpakstan in the Aral Sea area],"
local resident Gulya, 43, told IRIN in the Uzbek capital, Tashkent. "It is
not a very pleasant thing to drink it but we have no other choice."
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45026&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=UZBEKISTAN
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