Weekly Round-Up - IRINAS-71: 12-May-06
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Asia
IRIN-AS Weekly Round-Up 71
6 - 12 May 2006
CONTENTS:
AFGHANISTAN: More weapons surrendered
AFGHANISTAN: WFP delivers aid to flood-affected families
AFGHANISTAN: New scheme to control smuggling of chemicals used to
produce heroin
CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly News Wrap
CENTRAL ASIA: Ethnic hatred in Russia on the rise
IRAN: Non-election to UN Human Rights Council welcomed by watchdog
group
NEPAL: Conflict areas benefit from ceasefire
NEPAL: Food crisis in the west growing - NGOs
PAKISTAN: Fears of widespread drought
PAKISTAN: Return package extended to unregistered quake IDPs
PAKISTAN: Couples marrying by choice face many dangers
KYRGYZSTAN-TAJIKISTAN: Armed group attacks border guards, kill at least
five people
UZBEKISTAN: Fear rules one year on from mass killings
UZBEKISTAN: Bleak record on religious freedom continues
AFGHANISTAN: More weapons surrendered
Former militia commanders in Afghanistan's eastern province of Nangarhar
have voluntarily surrendered a number of weapons to the Disbandment of
Illegal Armed Groups (DIAG) programme, officials from the UN-backed
initiative said on Thursday in the Afghan capital, Kabul. "Nine former
commanders surrendered around 25,000 rounds of ammunition, as well as 77
light and heavy weapons, including mortars and rocket-propelled grenades
to the DIAG weapons collection team in Nangarhar province," Ahmad Jan
Nawzadi, public information officer at the DIAG programme, explained.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=53307&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN
AFGHANISTAN: WFP delivers aid to flood-affected families
In response to appeals from the government, the World Food Programme
(WFP) has dispatched nearly 45 mt of emergency food aid to hundreds of
communities devastated by recent floods in northern Afghanistan, the UN
food agency confirmed on Tuesday in the Afghan capital, Kabul. Flash
floods on 30 April caused by heavy rains and melting snow in the
northern provinces of Baghlan and Faryab killed at least 16 people and
left hundreds of families in urgent need of assistance, officials said.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=53238&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN
AFGHANISTAN: New scheme to control smuggling of chemicals used to
produce heroin
To stem the import of key chemicals used in the production of heroin to
Afghanistan, the government and the United Nations Office on Drug and
Crime (UNODC), have initiated a joint project to counter smuggling of
these chemicals, the UN said on Monday in the capital Kabul. According
to government officials, the processing of opium into morphine and
heroin is increasingly taking place inside Afghanistan, requiring that
precursor chemicals be smuggled into the country in large quantities.
The war-torn country is already producing nearly 90 percent of the world
opium.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=53214&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN
CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly News Wrap
This week in Central Asia, US Vice President Dick Cheney talked about
democratic reforms when visiting the region, but when he briefly visited
Kazakhstan, an oil-rich country with a poor human rights record, his
focus was clearly on energy issues. Cheney said during a joint press
conference in the Kazakh capital Astana, that the former Soviet republic
was an important strategic partner for the US.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=53314&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=CENTRAL_ASIA
CENTRAL ASIA: Ethnic hatred in Russia on the rise
Racial hatred and violence is growing in Russia, with Central Asian
labour migrants being among the groups targeted, analysts say. "Ethnic
hatred, xenophobia and violence are on the rise in Russia - so is the
activity of skinheads towards non-Russians, those who do not look
Slavic. Most sociological surveys confirm that," Galina Kozhevnikova,
deputy head of the Moscow-based Sova think tank, said from the Russian
capital on Monday. Attacks on foreigners have been on the rise
throughout the country, especially in Moscow and St Petersburg.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=53235&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=CENTRAL_ASIA
IRAN: Non-election to UN Human Rights Council welcomed by watchdog group
UN Watch, a human rights organisation founded in 1993 to monitor UN
compliance with principles of its charter, has lauded a decision not to
elect Iran to a seat in the newly established UN Human Rights Council.
"We're delighted and relieved that Iran's outrageous attempt to obtain a
seat on the human rights council was soundly defeated," Hilal Neuer,
Executive Director of UN Watch told IRIN on Wednesday from Geneva.
"Iran's domestic and foreign policy is hostile to the very principles of
human dignity and the principles of the universal declaration of human
rights."
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=53278&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=IRAN
NEPAL: Conflict areas benefit from ceasefire
Working directly with the community, Khim Bahadur Rana walks five hours
every day visiting poor households to educate illiterate Nepalese women
and girls on the importance of childcare and nutrition in the remote
village of Benimanipur, 280 km west of the capital Kathmandu. The job is
difficult, if not dangerous, in the village, which like most rural areas
of Nepal has been seriously affected by the decade-long conflict between
the Nepalese government and the Maoist insurgents.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=53290&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=NEPAL
NEPAL: Food crisis in the west growing - NGOs
International development agencies in Nepal are seriously concerned
about an acute food shortage in several hill and mountain districts in
the western region of the Himalayan kingdom. The Dutch development
agency (SNV) and Action Contre la Faim (ACF), the French international
NGO, have said that lack of food is very visible in several remote
districts of the impoverished Karnali province in northwestern Nepal.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=53205&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=NEPAL
PAKISTAN: Fears of widespread drought
severe drought is likely in Pakistan in the coming months, weather
experts at the national meteorological department in the capital,
Islamabad, warned on Monday, with reservoir levels in some areas already
dangerously low after a dry winter and little rain expected in the next
two months. "Moderate drought conditions have already developed in
Balochistan and lower Sindh [provinces], which are likely to worsen in
the coming months with the possibility of spreading to other parts of
the country," Dr Qamar-uz-Zaman Chaudhry, head of the meteorological
department, said.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=53213&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN
PAKISTAN: Return package extended to unregistered quake IDPs
Extending its return assistance programme for survivors of last
October's South Asian earthquake, the International Organization for
Migration (IOM) has started to provide free transport to displaced
families living with relatives or in small unplanned camps. Previously,
the programme had covered only those survivors living in officially
organised relief camps. "The number of IDPs [internally displaced
persons] in host families and scattered camps is proving to be greater
than anticipated. With no data available, the process of finding and
later verifying such families before providing them with transport is
also proving to be a real challenge," said Mary Giudice, head of IOM's
sub-office in Mansehra, in North West Frontier Province (NWFP).
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=53277&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN
PAKISTAN: Couples marrying by choice face many dangers
At least two young couples who recently married by choice in Pakistan
are today on the run and at risk of imminent murder, says the Human
Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP). In the Rahimyar Khan area of the
southern Punjab province, Bushra Hafiz and Muhammad Irfan, who wed early
in March this year, fear they may soon be killed by the family of the
bride and the extended clan to which she belongs. The pair is in hiding
and have made an appeal to the media to help save their lives by
highlighting their plight.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=53263&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN
KYRGYZSTAN-TAJIKISTAN: Armed group attacks border guards, kill at least
five people
An unidentified armed group attacked a Tajik check-point and a customs
post in Kyrgyzstan early on Friday morning, shooting dead four soldiers
and one civilian, representatives from both countries said. "At 2:30 AM
local time a group of at least six people from Kyrgyzstan attacked the
Tajik check-point in Lakon near Isfara town in Soghd area," an official
statement by the Tajik Ministry of Internal Affairs said, reporting that
two Tajik soldiers had been killed and one more injured. "Then on Kyrgyz
territory, the group seized a Mercedes killing its driver," the ministry
added.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=53313&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=KYRGYZSTAN-TAJIKISTAN
UZBEKISTAN: Fear rules one year on from mass killings
Spring is in full bloom in the eastern Uzbek city of Andijan, with
flowers and blossom bushes everywhere. Taking advantage of the good
weather, some residents are holding a traditional wedding ceremony in
the Bogi-Shamol suburb of the city. The scene is a complete contrast to
the bloody events almost a year ago when Uzbek security forces
suppressed a popular demonstration that killed up to 1,000 civilians and
left the world cold.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=53291&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=UZBEKISTAN
UZBEKISTAN: Bleak record on religious freedom continues
Uzbekistan continues to be plagued by an abysmal rights record with
regard to religious freedom, despite longstanding international pressure
to improve it. "The Uzbek authorities seek to restrict and control all
religious activity of the country. They control the Muslim community
from the inside, while all other faiths are controlled from the
outside," Felix Corley, the Editor of Forum 18 News Service, an agency
monitoring religious freedom in the former Soviet republics and eastern
Europe, said on Monday from London.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=53215&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=UZBEKISTAN
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