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Asia
IRIN-AS Weekly Round-Up 37
10 - 16 September 2005


CONTENTS:

KYRGYZSTAN: UNHCR airlifts 11 more Uzbek refugees out
KYRGYZSTAN: UNHCR hopeful for release of Andijan 15
KYRGYZSTAN: Vitamin A campaign wraps up
CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap
AFGHANISTAN: Female candidates speak out as campaigning closes
AFGHANISTAN: Election campaigning ends, voter education continues
AFGHANISTAN: Nationwide deworming campaign under way
AFGHANISTAN: Concern about keeping the gun out of Sunday's election
PAKISTAN: Close to 400,000 Afghans have returned in 2005
PAKISTAN: Monsoon rains kill at least 11 in Karachi
UZBEKISTAN: Internews to appeal government closure notice
UZBEKISTAN: Another US-funded NGO under pressure
NEPAL: UN concerned over continued use of torture
NEPAL: Still low on global poverty index
NEPAL: Maoist ceasefire - some gains, some violations
KAZAKHSTAN: OSCE election experts to arrive
TAJIKISTAN: Pressure on independent media continues



KYRGYZSTAN: UNHCR airlifts 11 more Uzbek refugees out

The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
confirmed on Friday it had successfully evacuated eleven more Uzbek
nationals - part of the original Andijan 15 - out of Kyrgyzstan for
third country resettlement. "I can confirm that the group has left
Kyrgyzstan and is now bound for London," Carlos Zaccagnini, chief of
mission for UNHCR, said from the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, referring to
the UNHCR-mandated refugees who boarded a scheduled British Airlines
flight at 10:00 am local time. The group had been airlifted early on
Friday from the southern Kyrgyz city of Osh for Bishkek where they had
been held in detention.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49097&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=KYRGYZSTAN


KYRGYZSTAN: UNHCR hopeful for release of Andijan 15

The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
remained hopeful for the release of 15 people from the Uzbek city of
Andijan, currently being detained in the southern Kyrgyz city of Osh.
"Eleven of the 15 could be released as early as this week," Carlos
Zaccagnini, chief of mission for UNHCR, said from the Kyrgyz capital,
Bishkek, on Tuesday, referring to those who had already received
UNHCR-mandated refugee status.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49055&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=KYRGYZSTAN


KYRGYZSTAN: Vitamin A campaign wraps up

A nationwide campaign to boost vitamin A among children has been
completed in Kyrgyzstan, according to a health ministry official. "The
third round of the vitamin A supplementation campaign supported by the
United Nations Children's Fund [UNICEF] finished this weekend," Yelena
Bayalieva, a spokeswoman for the health ministry, said in the capital
Bishkek on Monday.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49025&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=KYRGYZSTAN


CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap

Efforts to secure the release of 15 Uzbek nationals in a detention
centre in the southern Kyrgyz city of Osh continued this week, with the
successful evacuation of 11 of them - UNHCR-mandated refugees - for
third-country resettlement on Friday.

Part of an initial group of hundreds of Uzbeks who registered with the
Kyrgyz authorities after fleeing violence in their homeland, their
status has proven a source of contention between Tashkent and Biskek.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49099&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=CENTRAL_ASIA


AFGHANISTAN: Female candidates speak out as campaigning closes

45-year-old Farema Warakzai from the northern Afghan city of
Mazar-e-Sharif, is standing in Sunday's parliamentary election. She's
confident that women candidates will do well in the historic poll -
because they had not been responsible for the decades of violence the
nation endured. "We have not used guns against the people, so they will
vote for us." she said, adding people should be free to choose who they
vote for and not be influenced by warlords and regional strongmen, who
many fear will influence the polls.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49104&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN


AFGHANISTAN: Election campaigning ends, voter education continues

With Afghanistan's historic parliamentary elections just three days
away, the campaign deadline for some 5,800 contesting candidates for
Sunday's polls is set to end on Friday morning, according to an official
from Afghanistan's Joint Electoral Management Body (JEMB). "Today is the
last day of the candidates' campaigning that started on 17 August. The
remaining two days are to prepare for election day," Besmillah Besmil,
chairman of the joint UN-Afghan electoral body, said in Afghan capital,
Kabul, on Thursday.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49089&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN


AFGHANISTAN: Nationwide deworming campaign under way

Around 9,000 trained teachers have been deployed across Afghanistan to
distribute tablets to at least 6 million children in an effort to
eradicate intestinal parasites, health authorities and United Nations
agencies announced this week in the capital Kabul. The health and
education ministries, with support from the World Food Programme (WFP),
the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health
Organization (WHO), launched the programme on Monday.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49072&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN


AFGHANISTAN: Concern about keeping the gun out of Sunday's election

Afghan war criminals, drug barons and regional war lords must be barred
from serving in the nation's new parliament, due to be elected on 18
September, human rights bodies warned on Saturday. A new survey by the
Kabul-based Human Rights Research and Advocacy Consortium (HRRAC)
highlights a significant lack of trust among voters in the 6,000
candidates for the Wolesi Jirga [lower house] and provincial council
elections. HRRAC is a combination of 15 Afghan and international NGOs
working in the country. According to HRRAC, at least 500 men and women
were interviewed in Kabul, Kandahar, Bamyan, Jowzjan, Herat and Paktia
provinces.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49022&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN


PAKISTAN: Close to 400,000 Afghans have returned in 2005

About 394,000 Afghan refugees have repatriated so far this year from
Pakistan under the voluntary repatriation programme of the office of the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), an official from
the refugee agency said on Wednesday. On the same day, the agency
suspended its repatriation operation for about a week, ahead of
Afghanistan's parliamentary election scheduled on 18 September. The
programme will resume on 21 September.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49070&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN


PAKISTAN: Monsoon rains kill at least 11 in Karachi

At least 11 people have been reported killed over the weekend in the
southern port city of Karachi after unexpectedly heavy rains at the end
of the monsoon season. "More than 3,000 households in low-lying areas
along the Malir and Lyari rivers in the city were flooded as water
levels rose significantly after heavy rains pounded these areas," Anwar
Kazmi, a spokesman for the country's largest charity, the Edhi
Foundation, said from Karachi, capital of the southern province of
Sindh.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49020&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN


UZBEKISTAN: Another US-funded NGO under pressure

As part of a broader trend by the Uzbek government to close down both
international and local NGOs, on 12 September the Civil Court of
Tashkent ordered the US-based International Research and Exchanges Board
(IREX) to suspend activities in Uzbekistan for a period of six months.
IREX, funded by the United States Agency for International Development
(USAID), has worked with the Uzbek government and grassroots
organisations since 1994 improving education, facilitating student
exchanges, expanding internet access and supporting community
development initiatives.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49071&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=UZBEKISTAN


UZBEKISTAN: Internews to appeal government closure notice

The Uzbek branch of Internews Network, an international US-based NGO
working to foster independent media worldwide, will appeal a government
ruling calling for its immediate closure. "We have 20 days to appeal,"
Joshua Machleder, regional director for Internews Central Asia, said
from the Kazakh commercial capital, Almaty, on Monday, conceding,
however, hope for such a reversal remained low. "You never know. You
should always use every option open to you and never give up fighting,"
he maintained.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49021&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=UZBEKISTAN


NEPAL: UN concerned over continued use of torture

Torture and ill-treatment were still systematically practiced in various
detention centres in Nepal run by the police and the Royal Nepal Army
(RNA), concluded Manfred Nowak, the Special Rapporteur on Torture of the
United Nations Commission on Human Rights, who ended a seven-day visit
to the country on Friday. "There was repeated and frank admission by
senior and military officials that torture was acceptable in some
instances," said Nowak, who was deeply concerned about the prevailing
culture of impunity for those responsible.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49115&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=NEPAL


NEPAL: Still low on global poverty index

Latest figures from the 2005 Human Development Report (HDR) indicate
Nepal continues to languish at the bottom of the global human poverty
index. The Himalayan kingdom's infant mortality rate is the third
highest in the world, with nearly 30,000 children dying each year during
their first month of life. "Nepal stands at a crossroads today. The
country is facing a very serious crisis: recent advances in development
are being threatened and eroded by conflict and instability," said
Ghulam Isaczai, deputy head of the United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP) in Nepal, during the launch of the report on Tuesday.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49047&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=NEPAL


NEPAL: Maoist ceasefire - some gains, some violations

Civilians and NGO staff in remote parts of Nepal are asking Maoist
rebels, who now control the majority of the Himalayan kingdom, what
exactly their unilateral ceasefire announced on 3 September means.
Reports by Nepali media and human rights organisations suggest that the
Maoists are still indulging in abductions, school closures, extortions
and road blockades throughout the country. Activists said that the fact
these activities continue indicate the Maoist leadership is not serious
about the ceasefire.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49024&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=NEPAL


KAZAKHSTAN: OSCE election experts to arrive

The Organization for Security and Cooperation's (OSCE) Office for
Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) has announced a
three-day needs assessment mission to Kazakhstan. "This is a mission for
December's upcoming presidential elections," Urdur Gunnarsdottir, the
ODIHR's spokeswoman said from the Polish capital Warsaw on Monday. Set
to arrive on Wednesday, the three-man team will meet with government
officials, members of the political opposition, NGOs, media groups and
election authorities to discuss Kazakhstan's upcoming polls.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49026&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=KAZAKHSTAN


TAJIKISTAN: Pressure on independent media continues

Despite 14 years of independence, the mountainous state of Tajikistan
has much work ahead of it before it can claim a free and independent
press, observers say. Marred by scandal and legal skirmishes,
journalists continue to complain that their ability to work unhindered
is threatened. In the latest incident to rock the Tajik capital,
Dushanbe, Muhtor Bokizoda, chairman of the Foundation for the Memory and
Protection of Journalists (FMPJ) and editor of the independent
opposition newspaper "Nerui Sukhan" (Power of the Word), received a
two-year sentence at the end of August for alleged misuse of electricity
and tax evasion - a charge he flatly denies.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49108&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=TAJIKISTAN


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


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