U N I T E D   N A T I O N S
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Integrated Regional Information Network

Tel: +92-51-2211451 Ext 484
Fax: +92-51-2211 450
e-mail: irin@irin.org.pk


Asia
IRIN-AS Weekly Round-up 22
28 May - 3 June 2005


CONTENTS:

AFGHANISTAN: Life one year after disarmament
AFGHANISTAN: Further progress toward parliamentary elections
AFGHANISTAN: New code of conduct to regulate NGOs
AFGHANISTAN: Demining suspended following bomb attack on deminers
AFGHANISTAN: Focus on warlordism in northeast
AFGHANISTAN: UN counter-narcotics chief sees signs of hope in poppy
   eradication
CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap
KYRGYZSTAN: Uzbek asylum seekers adamant to stay
NEPAL: Donor agencies justify aid suspension
NEPAL: ICRC suspends visits to army detention centres
NEPAL: Living with leprosy
PAKISTAN: Focus on 'missing girls'
PAKISTAN: Efforts under way to close refugee camps in tribal North
   Waziristan
PAKISTAN: Landslide risk high in northern areas
UZBEKISTAN: Government clampdown intensifies
UZBEKISTAN: Poverty fuels food insecurity in south


AFGHANISTAN: Life one year after disarmament

Once a combatant, 34-year-old Abdul Ghafour wakes each day to begin his
new life as the sole carpenter in the tiny village of Janat Bagh. The
father-of-five, once a trained RPG [rocket propelled grenade] launcher
in the former 54th military division, now helps to reconstruct his own
village in northeastern Kunduz province's Khanabad district. Ghafour's
was one of the very first militias to be decommissioned through the
UN-backed disarmament demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) programme
in November 2003.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=47389&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN


AFGHANISTAN: Further progress toward parliamentary elections

The nomination process for candidates in Afghanistan's forthcoming
parliamentary elections has met with enormous enthusiasm. A total of
6,085 Afghans have registered to stand in the historic 18 September
legislature and provincial council elections, the country's election
commission announced on Sunday. The Joint Electoral Management Body
(JEMB) announced the success of the nomination process for elections to
Afghanistan's Wolesi Jirga (Lower House of the National Assembly) and
provincial councils.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=47388&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN


AFGHANISTAN: New code of conduct to regulate NGOs

Aid organisations in the Afghan capital, Kabul, launched a new code of
conduct to regulate their activities on Monday, following a series of
accusations that NGOs had misused funds allocated for post-war
Afghanistan. The 21-article code, signed by 90 national and
international NGOs, sets high standards to ensure greater transparency
and accountability, as well as to improve the quality of services
provided by NGOs, according to the Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan
Relief (ACBAR).

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=47410&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN


AFGHANISTAN: Demining suspended following bomb attack on deminers

All demining work stopped in southern and western Afghanistan following
an insurgent bomb attack, which killed two and injured five deminers on
the Kandahar-Herat highway on Wednesday, mine clearance agencies
confirmed to IRIN. The victims were Afghan nationals working for the
Mine Detection and Dog Centre (MDC). According to MDC, their vehicle was
blown up by an improvised explosive device (IED) on a bridge in the
vicinity of Grishk City in Helmand province. The deminers were returning
from a mine clearance field on a road construction site on the
Kandahar-Herat highway.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=47432&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN


AFGHANISTAN: Focus on warlordism in northeast

Sitting in his tiny, dark office in an old building in the town of
Faizabad, provincial capital of Afghanistan's northeastern Badakhshan,
Shah Jehan Noori, the provincial police chief, pleaded with government
officials in the capital, Kabul, to send him more troops and equipment
to deal with unruly warlords who still hold sway in many parts of the
province. "We need commandos, we need police, we need helicopters.
Commanders [warlords] are strong. They must be brought under control,"
he shouted down the phone while preparing for another operation to quell
clashes between militia groups that had plagued the isolated province
since early May.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=47424&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN


AFGHANISTAN: UN counter-narcotics chief sees signs of hope in poppy
eradication

Poppy farmers have demonstrated restraint in the cultivation of the
lucrative cash crop and the country has made progress in the
interdiction of drug supplies in Afghanistan, Antonio Maria Costa,
executive director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
(UNODC) said on Wednesday at the end of his two day visit to the world's
largest poppy growing country. "We have seen progress in interdiction -
some very excellent arrests in the country and outside the country,"
Costa told IRIN in the capital, Kabul.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=47455&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN


CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap

Pressure on the Uzbek leadership for an independent international probe
into the recent unrest in the east of the country continued this week,
with a group of US senators urging Tashkent to move in that direction.
The group led by senator John McCain visited Uzbekistan on Saturday, but
was unable to meet senior Uzbek officials. McCain said an international
inquiry into the killings at Andijan must take place at once, led by the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). He was
backed by the US ambassador in Tashkent, Jon Purnell, who said he had
continued to urge the Uzbek government to allow an inquiry, even though
President Karimov rejected the idea, the BBC reported on Sunday.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=47456&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=CENTRAL_ASIA


KYRGYZSTAN: Uzbek asylum seekers adamant to stay

Uzbek asylum seekers are adamant they do not want to return to their
homeland after government security forces killed up to 1,000 people in
the eastern Uzbek city of Andijan in May. "We have heard rumours that
the authorities are arresting anyone suspected of taking part in the
[recent] anti-government protests," Noilya, a teenage girl from Andijan,
told IRIN in the camp where the asylum seekers are living.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=47446&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=KYRGYZSTAN


NEPAL: Donor agencies justify aid suspension

Donor agencies have reiterated their stance that suspending aid is the
only way to ensure security of their project staff. Most importantly,
they want to get the message across to both the Maoist rebels and the
state authorities that they are serious about implementing commitments
set out in the Basic Operating Guidelines (BOGs). On 15 May, a team of
influential aid organisations led by the German Development Agency
(GTZ), the UK's Department for International Development (DFID), United
Nation's World Food Programme (WFP) and the Dutch Cooperation Agency
(SNV) decided to suspend their food for work project, Rural Community
Infrastructure Works (RCIW) in Kalikot district, after two staff working
with their local partner organisation were abducted and severely beaten
up by low-ranking cadres of the Maoist rebels.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=47381&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=NEPAL


NEPAL: ICRC suspends visits to army detention centres

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has put on hold
visits to detainees at army barracks throughout Nepal. The suspension
comes after the Royal Nepali Army (RNA) allegedly failed to comply fully
with the terms of an agreement with the ICRC regarding what are called
'worldwide working modalities.' These are carefully worded conditions,
set down by the Swiss-based organisation, that virtually abstain from
making any direct statement against state authorities or other parties
to any conflict. The current difficulties centre on the detention of
Nepal's Maoist insurgents.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=47399&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=NEPAL


NEPAL: Living with leprosy

As a twelve-year-old girl, Chandrakala Kunwar had to endure social
ostracism after contracting leprosy. When her neighbors in the Magdi
district, nearly 300 km northwest of the capital, Kathmandu, discovered
she had the disfiguring disease, they literally dragged her to the
riverside and quarantined her in a shack built with twigs and leaves and
warned her never to set foot in the village again. "I hate them so
much," explained Kunwar, as she recounted her story to IRIN, recalling
how fellow villagers and even relatives prevented the young girl from
going to the shop, drinking from the public tap or attending school.
Ultimately, her father carried his daughter for hours to the district
hospital in Magdi, in search of treatment.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=47441&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=NEPAL


PAKISTAN: Focus on 'missing girls'

Ultrasound technician, Dr Zaheer, wearily shakes his head as a young
couple leave his office in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore. He had
declined to tell them the gender of the child they are expecting. "It is
unethical. I do not tell people the sex of their child, unless I am
certain it is a boy," he said. "But they will probably go somewhere
else. There are quite literally hundreds of ultrasound facilities in
this city and despite the code of conduct on this, it is not hard to
find a technician who will tell them the gender," Zaheer added.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=47411&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN


PAKISTAN: Efforts under way to close refugee camps in tribal North
Waziristan

The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
has started preparations to assist Afghans living in camps in the North
Waziristan agency of Pakistan's western tribal belt. The camps are set
to close by 30 June. "Since the UNHCR cannot operate in the tribal area,
the cases of the refugees wishing to avail themselves of the assistance
package of the refugee agency would be processed through our office in
Bannu district of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) that borders
North Waziristan agency," Jack Redden, a UNHCR spokesman, told IRIN in
the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, on Wednesday.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=47433&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN


PAKISTAN: Landslide risk high in northern areas

Pakistan's northern parts are under high risk of landsliding and flash
floods as the temperature would rise in the coming days of June. The
areas have received 30 percent to 40 percent above normal winter rains
and snowfall earlier this year, according to meteorologists.
"Landsliding risk is significantly high in the coming summer months
across the hilly terrain due to soil erosion partially as a result of
heavy snowfall and frequent rains so far this year and the areas already
lack forest cover," Dr Qamar-uz-Zaman, head of Pakistan's meteorological
department, told IRIN in the capital, Islamabad, on Friday.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=47458&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN


UZBEKISTAN: Government clampdown intensifies

The Uzbek government has intensified a clampdown on public dissent in
Central Asia's most populous state, following protests in the eastern
province of Andijan, where upwards of 1,000 were feared dead. "The
authorities have increased pressure on rights groups and opposition
party members in Uzbekistan over the past few days," Surat Ikramov, head
of the local rights organisation, Initiative Group of Independent Rights
Activists of Uzbekistan (IGIRAU), told IRIN from the capital, Tashkent,
on Tuesday.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=47406&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=UZBEKISTAN


UZBEKISTAN: Poverty fuels food insecurity in south

Navot is an ordinary woman living in the southern Uzbek city of Karshi,
the capital of Kashkadarya province. She is a mother of two and
complains that it has become increasingly tough to look after her
children, being a single parent. In order to make ends meet, she has
transformed her two-roomed house into a bakery where she both works and
lives. "It has become difficult for people even to buy bread," Navot
told IRIN. "Not everyone can afford buying a whole bag of flour these
days," she said.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=47422&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=UZBEKISTAN


IRIN-Asia
Tel: +90 312 454 1177
Fax: +90 312 495 4166
Email: IrinAsia@IRINnews.org

[This Item is Delivered to the "Asia-English" Service of the UN's IRIN
humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views
of the United Nations. For further information, free subscriptions, or
to change your keywords, contact e-mail: IRIN@ocha.unon.org or Web:
http://www.irinnews.org . If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post this
item, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Reposting by commercial
sites requires written IRIN permission.]

Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
2005


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Appropriate Donations for International Disaster/Humanitarian Needs
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Center for International                  web: www.cidi.org
     Disaster Information             listserv: www.cidi.org/listsub.htm
                                    guidelines: www.cidi.org/donate.htm
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Asia                               www.cidi.org/humanitarian/irin/casia