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Asia
IRIN-AS Weekly Round-Up 69
22 - 28 April 2006


CONTENTS:

AFGHANISTAN: Anti-drugs body to construct three hydropower stations
AFGHANISTAN: UN calls for regional cooperation
AFGHANISTAN: Flood aid delivered to Samangan province
AFGHANISTAN: Deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu hits fourth province
AFGHANISTAN: First ever ICT conference launched in Kabul
CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap
IRAN: Afghan repatriation resumes
KYRGYZSTAN: Reform demonstrations planned for weekend
KYRGYZSTAN: Tajik refugees should repatriate or naturalise - UNHCR
NEPAL: King ends direct rule, reinstates parliament
NEPAL: Reproductive health and the conflict
NEPAL: King should avoid further bloodshed - activists
PAKISTAN: Humanitarian situation in parts of Balochistan
   deteriorating
PAKISTAN: Over 90,000 quake survivors return from relief camps
PAKISTAN: Acid burn victims smile again
PAKISTAN: Two new repatriation registration centres for Afghans in
   Balochistan
PAKISTAN: Comprehensive registration of Afghans planned
PAKISTAN: Government blocks Baloch websites
TURKMENISTAN: NGO alleges Turkmen president conceals gas earnings
UZBEKISTAN: Crackdown on international organisations continues
UZBEKISTAN: Activists welcome O SCE call for retrial of 15 Andijan
   defendants

____________________________________________________________________________

AFGHANISTAN: Anti-drugs body to construct three hydropower stations

In an effort to help local farmers develop alternative livelihoods, an 
Afghan anti-narcotics body has approved a US $3.2 million project to fund 
the construction of three micro hydropower stations in the country's 
northeastern Badakhshan province. Launched by the United Nations 
Development Programme (UNDP) in October 2005, the Counter-Narcotics Trust 
Fund (CNTF) works to support the government of Afghanistan in its fight to 
eradicate poppy production and the illicit drug trade in the war-ravaged 
country, which currently produces 87 percent of the global opium.


AFGHANISTAN: UN calls for regional cooperation

The United Nations special envoy to Afghanistan called for better 
cooperation between the country and its neighbours on Thursday. 
"Afghanistan is surrounded by nations which are highly interested in 
stability in Afghanistan and are friendly to Afghans. That means it is 
time for building bridges," Tom Koenigs told a press briefing in the 
capital Kabul. The envoy said peace and stability in Afghanistan was 
dependent on strong relations with its neighbours such as Iran and 
Pakistan.


AFGHANISTAN: Flood aid delivered to Samangan province

Government officials have started aid distribution to nearly 500 families 
affected by recent flooding in the northern Afghan province of Samangan, 
officials said on Tuesday in the capital, Kabul. Flooding caused by heavy 
rains in the Khuram Wa Sarbagh district of the province destroyed 30 
houses and damaged another 76 last week. It also destroyed 750 hectares of 
farmland in the province, according to officials at the Ministry of Rural 
Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD).


AFGHANISTAN: Deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu hits fourth province

The deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu has been detected in a fourth province 
of Afghanistan amid fears of further possible outbreaks of the virus among 
the country's destitute communities, the UN Food and Agriculture 
Organization (FAO)confirmed on Monday. "According to the test results, the 
H5N1 strain of bird flu has been detected in the eastern Kapisa province," 
Assadullah Azhari, FAO's public information officer, said in the Afghan 
capital, Kabul.


AFGHANISTAN: First ever ICT conference launched in Kabul

Hundreds of participants from the growing information and communications 
technology (ICT} industry in Afghanistan on Tuesday opened the first ever 
ICT conference in the capital, Kabul. The two-day forum, jointly organised 
by Afghanistan's communications ministry and the United Nations 
Development Programme (UNDP), will showcase investment opportunities, and 
promote ICT awareness within the country. The forum will also launch an 
easy-to-use online capability for registering Afghan (AF) website 
addresses, according to UNDP.


CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap

This week in Central Asia, Kazakh authorities barred an opposition leader, 
recently released from prison, from leaving the country on Monday, AP 
reported. Galymzhan Zhakiyanov, a leader of the 'For a Fair Kazakhstan' 
alliance, was to meet with European Union officials in Brussels but border 
control officials did not allow him to board a flight from the Kazakh 
commercial capital, Almaty.


IRAN: Afghan repatriation resumes

The Iranian government predicts that half a million Afghan refugees will 
return to their homeland from Iran when the country's voluntary 
repatriation operation resumes on 29 April, the office of the United 
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Iran said on Wednesday. 
"Following the government of Iran's wish, 500,000 refugees are anticipated 
to voluntarily return. Our [UNHCR] own internal planning figures on 
assistance of refugees are 150,000. That's our first goal for now, but it 
can be increased," Safak Pavey, UNHCR's public information officer in 
Iran, said from the capital, Tehran.


KYRGYZSTAN: Reform demonstrations planned for weekend

Opposition groups and civil society activists are gearing up to hold 
nationwide demonstrations on Saturday to call for greater reform in 
Kyrgyzstan, more than one year after public protests swept former 
president Askar Akayev from power. "There definitely will be protests 
throughout the country - in provincial capitals and in the capital, 
Bishkek," Jyrgalbek Turdukojaev, an activist from the Coalition for 
Democracy and Civil Society, a prominent NGO, s aid in Bishkek, on 
Tuesday.


KYRGYZSTAN: Tajik refugees should repatriate or naturalise - UNHCR

Hundreds of Tajik refugees in Kyrgyzstan need to either go home or 
naturalise by the end of June, according to the office of the UN High 
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). "Tajik refugees in Kyrgyzstan need to 
either voluntarily repatriate or seek another durable solution, including 
naturalisation, by 30 June 2006," Carlos Zaccagnini, UNHCR's country 
representative, said from the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, on Friday.


NEPAL: King ends direct rule, reinstates parliament

The direct rule of Nepalese monarch King Gyanendra ended on Monday night 
following his announcement on national television that he was reinstating 
parliament to be led by the seven main opposition parties. "We call upon 
the Seven Party Alliance (Seven main opposition parties) to bear the 
responsibility...while ensuring permanent peace and safeguarding 
multiparty democracy," the king said.


NEPAL: Reproductive health and the conflict

For Shanta Karki, life simply could not get any better. Having already 
given birth to three healthy girls, her lifelong dream of finally having a 
son has come true. "I feel good. I'm happy. And I'm ready to go home," the 
32-year-old said, beaming from her bed at the Kathmandu Model Hospital, a 
private community-based hospital in the N epalese capital. "There were no 
problems and no complications so I guess I'm lucky."


NEPAL: King should avoid further bloodshed - activists

Women beat cooking utensils, men played wooden drums, and young boys and 
girls clapped as tens of thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators marched 
on Sunday along the Ring Road-the huge roundabout road that surrounds the 
capital-to protest against the absolute rule of the Nepalese monarch, King 
Gyanendra. Since 1 February, 2005, Gyanendra has been ruling the Himalayan 
kingdom directly after suspending the democratic government led by former 
prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba for failing to curb the Maoists, who 
have been waging an armed rebellion against the state for the past 10 
years.


PAKISTAN: Humanitarian situation in parts of Balochistan deteriorating

With violence in parts of Pakistan's southern province of Balochistan 
showing no signs of abating, provincial opposition leaders have appealed 
to humanitarian organisations to help those displaced by the conflict. 
"Since the violence has escalated, thousands of poor people have migrated 
from the scene of clashes between [Baloch] tribesmen and security forces 
in the district of Dera Bugti to neighbouring areas of Jafarabad and 
Naseerabad. They are living in the open in baking hot weather without food 
and other facilities," Kachkol Ali, leader of the opposition in the 
provincial assembly, said in the southern port city of Karachi.


PAKISTAN: Over 90,000 quake survivors return from relief camps

Since the start of the return process on 10 March, more than 90,000 
survivors of the devastating Pakistan earthquake have gone home to rebuild 
their lives, relief officials said on Thursday. This has resulted in the 
closure of 49 relief camps in North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and 
Pakistani-administered Kashmir to date. "The return process continues to 
gather pace. The internally displaced people are keen on returning to 
their home villages and overall the process can be assessed as voluntary 
in nature. Even before camp closures started on 10 March, camp dwellers 
were returning on their own," Fatma Bassiouni, a spokeswoman at the office 
of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said in the Pakistani 
capital, Islamabad.


PAKISTAN: Acid burn victims smile again

Huma, 22, now smiles many times a day. As she does so, she often stares 
almost in wonder into a mirror, much like a child encountering her 
reflection for the first time. For two years she had been unable to look 
at her own image: like dozens of other young women, most based in 
Pakistan's southern Punjab, Huma had suffered a disfiguring attack with 
acid. The corrosive substance was thrown in her face as she slept outdoors 
in the courtyard of her home in a village near Multan, a city 350 km south 
of the capital, Islamabad.


PAKISTAN: Two new repatriation registration centres for Afghans in 
Balochistan

In a further effort to faci litate the voluntary repatriation of thousands 
of Afghan refugees living in Pakistan's south western province of 
Balochistan, the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for 
Refugees (UNHCR) has established two new voluntary repatriation centres 
(VRCs) in the north of the province, in addition to one already operating 
in the provincial capital, Quetta. "Earlier on, we were processing 
repatriation cases in these areas through mobile teams, which have been 
stationed now in different field offices to facilitate the refugees and 
also to save our time and resources," Dunya Aslam Khan, a UNHCR 
spokeswoman, said in Quetta.


PAKISTAN: Comprehensive registration of Afghans planned

The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) 
and the Pakistani government agreed last week in the capital Islamabad to 
carry out a national registration of Afghans in the country. During the 
drive, Afghan refugees will be issued ID cards allowing them to stay in 
Pakistan for another three years. "This registration exercise is an 
important part of the repatriation process because it will capture a 
detailed profile of Afghans living in Pakistan: where they come from, how 
old they are, what skills they have," Vivian Tan, a UNHCR spokeswoman said 
in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad on Wednesday.


PAKISTAN: Government blocks Baloch websites

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, a government agency responsible 
for telecommunications, has ordered the country's internet service 
providers to block access to four websites containing Baloch nationalist 
mate rial, according to a directive issued by the agency's office in the 
western city of Lahore. "You are requested to block access to the websites 
immediately to your subscribers," the directive read, requesting 
compliance to be undertaken by Wednesday, 3 May.


TURKMENISTAN: NGO alleges Turkmen president conceals gas earnings

A British NGO said in a new report that the Turkmen leader, Saparmurat 
Niyazov, keeps most of the energy-rich Central Asian country's natural gas 
earnings under his control in overseas and off-budget funds. Global 
Witness, an international organisation that works to expose the link 
between human rights abuses and natural resource exploitation, estimates 
that Turkmenistan's natural gas export earnings reach over US $2 billion 
annually, but that citizens of the reclusive country have no information 
on the gas profits.


UZBEKISTAN: Crackdown on international organisations continues

Uzbek officials announced on Sunday that the local office of another 
international organisation would be closing its doors in the country where 
a crackdown on civil society organisations continues to this day. The 
closure of the local liaison office of the American Bar Association 
Central European and Eurasian Law Initiatives' (ABA/CEELI) in the capital 
of Tashkent follows an Uzbek Justice Ministry decision that the 
organisation had violated its charter, local media reports said.


UZBEKISTAN: Activists welcome OSCE call for retrial of 15 Andijan 
defendants

Rights activists have welcomed a call by the Organization for Security and 
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) on the Uzbek leadership to proceed to a 
retrial of 15 defendants convicted of involvement in anti-government 
protests in the eastern city of Andijan last May. "I see this as a 
positive move because almost all trials of those who [allegedly] took part 
in the Andijan events had been secret and closed. The thing is that in 
many cases we did not even know where and when those trials were held," 
Surat Ikramov, head of the local rights organisation, Initiative Group of 
Independent Rights Activists of Uzbekistan (IGIRAU), said from the Uzbek 
capital, Tashkent, on Tuesday.


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