Weekly Round-Up - IRINAS-50: 16-Dec-05
U N I T E D N A T I O N S
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Integrated Regional Information Network
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Asia
IRIN-AS Weekly Round-Up 50
10 - 16 December 2005
CONTENTS:
PAKISTAN: Acute respiratory infections increasing among quake survivors
PAKISTAN: World Bank approves US $400 million for earthquake recovery
PAKISTAN: Special refuge for vulnerable quake victims
PAKISTAN: UNHCR sets up new camps for quake survivors
PAKISTAN: UNODC to launch HIV/AIDS prevention programme in prisons
PAKISTAN: Tenant quake survivors angry at lack of compensation
AFGHANISTAN: Government criticises UN report on poppy cultivation
AFGHANISTAN: Earthquake destroyed 200 homes in northeast
AFGHANISTAN: World Bank provides US $80 million for government support
AFGHANISTAN: Strong earthquake rocks northeast
AFGHANISTAN: NATO expansion welcomed
AFGHANISTAN: National rights body denied access to detainees
TAJIKISTAN: Sharp rise in trafficking arrests
TAJIKISTAN: At least 17 killed by mines in 2005 -TMAC
NEPAL: Soldier kills 12 civilians
CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap
PAKISTAN: Acute respiratory infections increasing among quake survivors
Sitting in his bed in a field hospital, Safir, 3, is coughing heavily,
while his mother, Meerjan, gives him water to soothe the outbursts. The
reason is pneumonia, say doctors at the field hospital run by the
Pakistan Islamic Medical Association (PIMA) in Muzaffarabad, capital of
Pakistan-administered Kashmir. "My son had been coughing for over three
days before we came to this hospital," Meerjan said. "I gave him some
oral medications, but they were not of help and that's why we came
here," she added.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=50716&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN
PAKISTAN: World Bank approves US $400 million for earthquake recovery
The World Bank on Thursday approved an emergency credit of about US $400
million to support the earthquake recovery and reconstruction efforts in
Pakistan over the next three years. "This credit will allow people to
put their lives and homes back together," said John Wall, World Bank
country director for Pakistan, in the capital, Islamabad.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=50722&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN
PAKISTAN: Special refuge for vulnerable quake victims
There is something oddly comforting about the sight of eight-year-old
Muhammad Iqbal, crying. The child earthquake survivor is weeping not
from pain, hunger or cold, but because he has just been dismissed during
a cricket game being played at a special shelter for women and children
left alone by the quake. "I wasn't out at all, but the umpire is the
bowler's brother and gave me out LBW [leg before wicket]," Iqbal
shrieked, in a complaint that echoes similar ones made everywhere by
small boys across the courtyards, playgrounds and streets of cricket-mad
Pakistan.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=50707&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN
PAKISTAN: UNHCR sets up new camps for quake survivors
The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
is setting up new improved camps for thousands of survivors of the South
Asian earthquake in Pakistani-administered Kashmir to help relieve
pressure on existing sites. "We are working on three fronts -
relocation, decongestion and closure - but everything depends on the
availability of land [for camps], which is scarce due to the local
terrain, that is our biggest challenge," Guenet Guebre-Christos, head of
UNHCR's mission in Pakistan, said on Thursday at a survivors' camp in
the Chellah Bandi area of Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistan-administered
Kashmir.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=50708&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN
PAKISTAN: Survivors outside official quake camps need winterised tents
More than two months after the devastating earthquake that hit northern
Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir, thousands of survivors still
live in non-winterised shelters, as night-time temperatures drop below
zero, even in low-lying areas. "Our tent is not suitable for the weather
we have now. It is really cold at night and we wrap ourselves in three
blankets to keep warm," said Hussain, 45, from Charwaya village by
Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=50675&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN
PAKISTAN: UNODC to launch HIV/AIDS prevention programme in prisons
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) is preparing to
launch a drug abuse and HIV/AIDS prevention programme in Pakistani
prisons by early 2006. "Through this pilot project, UNODC intends to
introduce drug abuse and HIV/AIDS prevention services for prisons in
Pakistan on a sustainable basis," Vincent McClean, Country
Representative of UNODC, said in a project workshop in the Pakistani
capital Islamabad on Tuesday.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=50662&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN
PAKISTAN: Tenant quake survivors angry at lack of compensation
Dotted lines, depicting unmettalled roads, wind across maps of the
little known district of Kohistan. In reality, these roads are nothing
more than rough tracks, surrounded by wilderness in an area where tiny
villages and hamlets are scattered at some distance from each other. The
area is both physically inaccessible and reputed for lawlessness. As
such, it is only rarely visited by outsiders.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=50633&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN
AFGHANISTAN: Government criticises UN report on poppy cultivation
Recent remarks by the UN suggesting that poppy cultivation in
Afghanistan was likely to rise again next year, despite a significant
drop in 2005, have drawn criticism from the government. The remarks were
made by Doris Buddenberg, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes
(UNODC) Representative in Afghanistan, at a UN press briefing on Monday
in the capital Kabul. Buddenberg said that poppy cultivation in 2005 was
down by 25 percent compared with the previous year, but would likely
rise again in 2006.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=50705&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN
AFGHANISTAN: Earthquake destroyed 200 homes in northeast
At least 10 people, including three children, were injured and 200 homes
destroyed when an earthquake measuring 6.7 on the Richter scale hit
northeastern Afghanistan early on Tuesday, officials at the interior
ministry said on Wednesday. The US Geological Survey said the quake was
centred in the remote Hindu Kush region of northeastern Afghanistan. It
struck shortly before 02:30 local time.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=50674&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN
AFGHANISTAN: World Bank provides US $80 million for government support
The Word Bank approved a grant of US $80 million to support
post-conflict reconstruction in Afghanistan on Tuesday. "The programme
supported by the grant is at the core of the government's objective to
build an accountable and effective state. This is critical for
successful poverty reduction," Jean Mazurelle, the bank's country
manager for Afghanistan, noted in a press release.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=50677&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN
AFGHANISTAN: Strong earthquake rocks northeast
A strong earthquake measuring 6.7 on the Richter scale struck
northeastern Afghanistan and neighbouring Pakistan early on Tuesday
morning. Officials were still trying contact isolated communities to
determine whether the quake caused any casualties. The US Geological
Survey said the quake's epicentre was in the remote Hindu Kush region of
northeastern Afghanistan. It struck shortly before 02:30 local time.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=50661&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN
AFGHANISTAN: NATO expansion welcomed
Kabul has welcomed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO)
decision on Friday to expand its peacekeeping mission, saying it would
boost security in the post-conflict country. NATO foreign ministers
approved mission rules last week for an expanded Afghan peacekeeping
force for 2006, which Washington hopes will allow it to reduce US troop
levels in the country. The agreement makes NATO's Afghanistan mission
its biggest ever operation outside Europe.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=50659&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN
AFGHANISTAN: National rights body denied access to detainees
Despite receiving 113 complaints of human rights violations at the hands
of US-led coalition forces over the past year, the Afghan Independent
Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) continues to be denied access to
coalition detention centres, the AIHRC said in its annual report this
week. The commission has continued to press for access to the places of
detention to enable monitoring of conditions and to investigate
complaints, and has requested the appointment of a US military liaison
officer to address complaints of human rights abuses, the report said.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=50657&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN
TAJIKISTAN: Sharp rise in trafficking arrests
More than 230 crimes connected to human trafficking were registered in
Tajikistan in 2005, compared to 150 similar crimes a year earlier,
Deputy Prosecutor General Abdusami Dadabaev said at a conference in the
Tajik capital, Dushanbe, on Tuesday. The one-day conference -
'Mobilisation of communities in the struggle against human traffic in
Tajikistan' - was organised by the presidency's Strategic Research
Centre.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=50660&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=TAJIKISTAN
TAJIKISTAN: At least 17 killed by mines in 2005 -TMAC
Some 1,800 anti-personnel mines have been neutralised in Tajikistan this
year, the Tajik Mine Action Centre, responsible for the clearance, said
on Tuesday. Cold weather means the demining season is now at an end in
the mountainous Central Asian nation. Mines killed at least 17 people
and injured many more this year. Almost all the victims were civilians
collecting fire wood or grazing cattle along the border with
neighbouring Uzbekistan. Two border guards perished from mines at the
end of November on the Tajik-Afghan border, TMAC noted.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=50658&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=TAJIKISTAN
NEPAL: Soldier kills 12 civilians
Nepalis have been left shocked at the killing of 12 civilians by a
deranged soldier at the Kali Debi Mandir Hindu temple in the popular
tourist destination of Nagarkot, 32 km east of the capital, Kathmandu.
The civilians were shot in cold blood on Wednesday by an allegedly
drunken Royal Nepalese Army (RNA) soldier. Witnesses told IRIN at the
incident site that the soldier, Basu Deb Thapa, had had a row with some
local criminals and in less than 30 minutes, he returned with an
automatic rifle from the nearby army barracks.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=50706&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=NEPAL
CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap
In Uzbekistan, more than 100 people face charges in a new series of
closed trials in connection with the May uprising in the eastern city of
Andijan, the Supreme Court said in a statement on Wednesday.
Seventy-eight defendants are being tried in six unspecified locations
for alleged participation in the 13 May revolt, which was brutally
suppressed by government troops. Separately, 36 policemen, soldiers and
doctors face charges of negligence that allegedly helped rebels to
launch the revolt, the statement said.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=50718&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=CENTRAL_ASIA
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