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

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


Asia
IRIN-AS Weekly Round-Up 09
26 February - 4 March 2005


CONTENTS:

AFGHANISTAN: Polio vaccination campaign gets under way
AFGHANISTAN-PAKISTAN: Census extended
AFGHANISTAN: Getting more women into politics
AFGHANISTAN: Battling to bring winter relief
CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap
IRAN: Quake death toll passes 600
KAZAKHSTAN: Syrdarya floods, hundreds evacuated in south
KYRGYZSTAN: Parliamentary elections fall short of international
   standards
KYRGYZSTAN: Protests against election results in south
NEPAL: Focus on the impact of the conflict on rural health
NEPAL: Donors remain committed
PAKISTAN: Focus on illegal labour migration
PAKISTAN: Evacuations in Balochistan following dam breach
PAKISTAN: Focus on relief aid to northern Balochistan
TAJIKISTAN: OSCE criticises parliamentary polls
TAJIKISTAN: HIV/AIDS on the rise in north
TURKMENISTAN: Strong criticism over proposed hospital closures


AFGHANISTAN: Polio vaccination campaign gets under way

The Afghan government, working in conjunction with the UN Children's 
Fund (UNICEF), launched a three-day national polio vaccination campaign 
on Tuesday in an effort to finally eradicate the virus from the country. 
An estimated 5.3 million Afghan children under the age of five will 
receive the life-saving polio vaccine under the National Immunisation 
Days (NID) campaign. Afghanistan is among only seven countries in the 
world, along with Nigeria, India, Egypt, Niger, Somali and Pakistan, 
where polio remains endemic.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45847&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN


AFGHANISTAN-PAKISTAN: Census extended

A countrywide 10-day census of the Afghan population living in Pakistan, 
which got under way last Wednesday, is expected to extend for another 
couple of days as bad weather conditions have hampered the operation in 
the southwestern province of Balochistan, officials told IRIN on 
Tuesday. "Hopefully, we will complete [on time] in most areas of 
Balochistan [province]. But in some parts of the northern districts of 
Ziarat and Pishin, we may have to extend for another couple of days as 
the roads are not passable due to snow," Waqar Ali, provincial head of 
the Commissionerate of Afghan Refugees (CAR), told IRIN in Quetta, the 
provincial capital.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45846&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN-PAKISTAN


AFGHANISTAN: Getting more women into politics

The United Nations and the Ministry of Women's Affairs (MoWA) called on 
Afghan political parties on Wednesday to promote and support female 
candidates for the upcoming parliamentary elections. The first 
parliamentary elections in Afghanistan under newly elected President 
Hamid Karzai were scheduled to be held in May but were postponed last 
week for security and logistical reasons.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45886&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN


AFGHANISTAN: Battling to bring winter relief

Emergency relief still hasn't reached many areas of rural Afghanistan 
suffering from avalanches and intense snow storms, IRIN learnt on 
Monday. Aid agencies, the United Nations and the Afghan government have 
been battling to assist thousands of victims of the unprecedented cold 
winter that has killed more than 500 people, mostly women and children, 
around the country.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45814&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN


CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap

This week in Central Asia was dominated by reports of parliamentary 
elections in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, and reaction from observers and 
rights groups. While the election bodies of the two former Soviet 
republics said the polls were broadly free and fair, many international 
observers, including the Organization for Security and Cooperation in 
Europe (OSCE), criticised them, saying they fell short of international 
standards.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45920&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=CENTRAL_ASIA


IRAN: Quake death toll passes 600

More than 600 people are now known to have been killed in last week's 
devastating earthquake in Iran's southeastern Kerman province, an 
official from the Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS) told IRIN on 
Monday. "Based on our latest figures from the field, the death toll now 
stands at 612, with 1,411 people reported injured," Mehrdad Eshragi, 
deputy director-general of the international affairs department at the 
IRCS, said from the Iranian capital, Tehran. "The rescue operation 
finished on Saturday, but we are continuing our relief efforts."

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45807&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=IRAN


KAZAKHSTAN: Syrdarya floods, hundreds evacuated in south

More than 500 people have been evacuated in southern Kazakhstan after 
the Syrdarya river broke its banks downstream from the Chardara 
reservoir. Water levels are running dangerously high at the reservoir 
and further possible flooding was expected, officials warned. "The 
situation around the Chardara reservoir is currently quite difficult as 
the water level is 5.045 billion cu m while its total capacity is 5.2 
billion," Kayrat Tarbaev, a spokesman for the Kazakh emergency ministry, 
told IRIN from the Kazakh capital Astana, on Wednesday.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45884&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=KAZAKHSTAN


KYRGYZSTAN: Parliamentary elections fall short of international 
standards

Sunday's parliamentary elections in Kyrgyzstan, while more competitive 
than previous polls, fell short of international standards, the 
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said on 
Monday. "These elections were more competitive than previous ones, but 
sadly they were undermined by vote buying, de-registration of 
candidates, interference with the media and a worryingly low confidence 
in judicial and electoral institutions on the part of voters and 
candidates," Kimmo Kiljunen, head of the OSCE parliamentary assembly 
delegation and coordinator of the OSCE observers, said at a media 
conference in the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45812&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=KYRGYZSTAN


KYRGYZSTAN: Protests against election results in south

Up to 3,000 people have gathered outside the municipal offices in the 
Aravan and Karasuu districts of the southern Kyrgyz province of Osh over 
the past three days in protest against last week's national election 
results, officials said. The office of the provincial prosecutor told 
IRIN that the protesters in Aravan were supporters of Tursunbay Alimov, 
head of a local village council and a defeated parliamentary candidate, 
were demanding a recount of ballots in one of the polling stations.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45911&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=KYRGYZSTAN


NEPAL: Focus on the impact of the conflict on rural health

Min Bahadur Tamang is 16 years old, but doesn't know if he will see his 
next birthday. Living in remote Ichok village in Sindupalchok district, 
80 km northwest of the Nepali capital, Kathmandu, it is hard to find a 
medical facility nearby. He has to walk for nearly eight hours down to 
Melamchi, the nearest urban centre in the district, to reach the 
government-run Primary Health Care Centre (PHCC).

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45810&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=NEPAL


NEPAL: Donors remain committed

Since the king of Nepal imposed direct rule on the country in February, 
serious concerns have been voiced over whether donors would withdraw 
aid. But donors have moved to allay such fears, saying that they will 
not put pressure on an impoverished and excluded population who are in 
desperate need of help - particularly in rural areas where they rely 
entirely on external support.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45900&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=NEPAL


PAKISTAN: Focus on illegal labour migration

Ershaad, 24, still hangs on tightly to his passport. On one of its 
pages, it bears a visa apparently issued by the Embassy of Greece in 
Islamabad, permitting him to enter the country. A bolder, red stamp, 
emblazoned across it states that Ershaad was deported from Greece late 
last year. "I paid nearly Rs 400,000 [US $6,700] for this," he told 
IRIN, sadly gazing at the now much-handled passport.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45898&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN


PAKISTAN: Evacuations in Balochistan following dam breach

Local authorities on Wednesday evacuated some 5,000 people from 
low-lying villages in the southern coastal belt of Gawadar district in 
Pakistan's Balochistan province, after heavy rains caused a breach in 
the Aakra Kor dam, provincial relief officials told IRIN. "People have 
been alerted against any potential flash flooding in the southern 
coastal belt, with the seasonal rivers in high flow following torrential 
rains over the past two days. The population of villages surrounding 
Aakra dam have been shifted to safe places," Raziq Bugti, head of the 
provincial crisis management cell (CMC), told IRIN from the provincial 
capital, Quetta.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45883&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN


PAKISTAN: Focus on relief aid to northern Balochistan

Government agencies and relief agencies are still trying to get 
emergency assistance to thousands of isolated communities in Pakistan's 
southwestern province of Balochistan. In the first two weeks of 
February, persistent heavy rain and snowfall severely affected about 
150,000 people in the northern upland district of Toba Kakar in Pishin 
and Toba Achakzai in the Qilla Abdullah district of the poverty-stricken 
province.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45913&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN


TAJIKISTAN: OSCE criticises parliamentary polls

The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has 
criticised Sunday's parliamentary elections in Tajikistan, saying they 
fell short of international standards. "The whole election process did 
not meet the expectations for transparent and democratic elections in 
Tajikistan," Peter Eicher, head of the electoral observer mission from 
the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), 
said on Monday in the Tajik capital, Dushanbe, announcing the 
preliminary findings of his mission. "The election process is assessed 
as unsatisfactory."

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45835&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=TAJIKISTAN


TAJIKISTAN: HIV/AIDS on the rise in north

Latofat (not her real name) lives in the northern Tajik city of 
Kairakkum, some 370 km north of the capital, Dushanbe. The 21-year-old 
woman is one of more than 100 people who are known to have contracted 
HIV in northern Tajikistan in the past three years. She found out that 
she was living with the virus in 2001, when health institutions in the 
northern Soghd province carried out blood tests among high-risk groups, 
including drug users and sex workers.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45868&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=TAJIKISTAN


TURKMENISTAN: Strong criticism over proposed hospital closures

A proposed measure by Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov to close down 
all hospitals outside the Turkmen capital, Ashgabat, has drawn sharp 
criticism from outside observers and activists. "The president's order 
to close hospitals outside of the capital is shocking even by the 
regime's own abysmal standards," Erika Dailey, director of the Open 
Society Institute's Turkmenistan Project, told IRIN on Wednesday from 
the Hungarian capital, Budapest. "I have not heard of policies this 
unapologetically retrogressive come out of Turkmenistan in a long 
while."

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45887&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=TURKMENISTAN


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