Weekly Round-Up - IRINAS-78: 30-Jun-06
U N I T E D N A T I O N S
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Integrated Regional Information Network
Tel: +92-51-2211451 Ext 484
Fax: +92-51-2211 450
e-mail: irin@irin.org.pk
Asia
IRIN-AS Weekly Round-Up 78
24 - 30 June 2006
CONTENTS:
AFGHANISTAN: Interview with UN Humanitarian Coordinator Ameerah Haq
AFGHANISTAN: Civilians caught in escalating southern conflict
CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap
KYRGYZSTAN: Child labour remains rife
KYRGYZSTAN: Youth mark world day against drugs
NEPAL: Ceasefire brings better access for rural development
NEPAL: Army still using schools as barracks - activists
NEPAL: Rebels accused of failing to adhere to peace process
PAKISTAN: Quake villages need immediate help
PAKISTAN: Early monsoon rains threaten quake reconstruction and relief
PAKISTAN: Spiralling rents leave quake victims out in the cold
TURKMENISTAN: Rights group calls for the release of activists
AFGHANISTAN: Interview with UN Humanitarian Coordinator Ameerah Haq
Ameerah Haq is one of the two Deputy Special Representatives for
Afghanistan appointed by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
She is responsible for Relief, Recovery and Reconstruction (RRR), as
well being Humanitarian Coordinator in Afghanistan. Haq highlighted
concerns over the impact of ongoing violence in the country, including
civilian deaths, displacement and a lack of basic needs such as food and
shelter. But Haq was hopeful that the situation would improve in July
when NATO-led troops were deployed, allowing the UN to push forward with
humanitarian relief. Her comments come a day ahead of US Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice=92s visit to Kabul, where she is expected to
discuss the rising tide of violence with President Hamid Karzai.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54254&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN
AFGHANISTAN: Civilians caught in escalating southern conflict
Civilians are increasingly falling victim to an upsurge in fighting
between Taliban insurgents and government and US-led coalition forces.
=93The Taliban came to our village at night and threatened us if we helped
the government. Then they started shelling security forces after which
US aircraft bombarded our village [in early May] - killing some 12 women
and children in one of my relative=92s house, with many others killed in
other houses,=94 said Shah Mohammad, 35, a resident of Panjwai district,
who fled the fighting.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54285&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN
CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap
This week in Central Asia, a controversial media bill was approved on
Thursday by Kazakhstan=92s upper chamber of parliament, English Politics
News reported. Lawmakers unanimously voted 36 to none for the bill,
which will impose wider restrictions on the media. Earlier in the week
hundreds of Kazakh activists, mainly opposition journalists and their
supporters, protested against the bill in the commercial capital,
Almaty, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) reported.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54325&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=CENTRAL_ASIA
KYRGYZSTAN: Child labour remains rife
Samat is pushing a heavy cart at the =91Osh Bazaar=92 in the Kyrgyz capital,
Bishkek. The 11-year-old labourer is tired, but a strong desire to earn
money for his family makes him continue his back-breaking work that
lasts from early morning to sunset. =93I have to work. The money that my
parents earn is not enough and therefore I help them,=94 the child said.
His family came to Bishkek from the southern province of Batken almost a
year ago in search of a better life, like many internal migrants.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54174&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=KYRGYZSTAN
KYRGYZSTAN: Youth mark world day against drugs
Hundreds of young people gathered in the northern Kyrgyz town of Kant to
mark the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking on
Monday. "We vote for health" and "Kyrgyzstan: future without drugs" were
their main slogans.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54255&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=KYRGYZSTAN
NEPAL: Ceasefire brings better access for rural development
Rural aid and development workers in Nepal are starting to gain access
to previously cut off areas as the peace process brings greater security
but more needs to be done, agencies say. =93People have more access and
development workers are travelling everywhere in the country,=94 said the
UK=92s Department for International Development (DfID) chief in Nepal,
Mark Mallalieu.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54187&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=NEPAL
NEPAL: Army still using schools as barracks - activists
Local activists have severely criticised the government and army for
continuing to billet soldiers and security force personnel in school
premises around the country, despite the current ceasefire. =93The
children are being exposed to uniformed soldiers with their weapons and
their playgrounds are filled with barbed wire, trenches and defensive
sandbags,=94 said Sanjaya Aryal, coordinator of local NGO, the National
Coalition for Children as Zones of Peace (CZOP).
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54256&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=NEPAL
NEPAL: Rebels accused of failing to adhere to peace process
Nepal's fledgling peace process to end the conflict between Maoist
rebels and the government, is fraught with challenges, political leaders
and analysts have said. "We are really worried because the Maoist
leaders have failed to implement their commitments as agreed. We need a
positive political environment, especially now," said Sushil Koirala, a
veteran leader of the Nepali Congress (NC), one the country=92s largest
parties.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54320&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=NEPAL
PAKISTAN: Quake villages need immediate help
The road to Kahori, high above the Neelum River, is a treacherous one.
Along the largely single lane dirt tract, cars needle for room in
passing - often at great risk of plummeting to almost certain death.
Many of the tiny roads and hamlets that dot its path all but disappeared
following the 8 October quake that ravaged the area. Others serve only
as graveyards for their former inhabitants, some of whose bodies lie
entombed under the rubble more than eight months after the disaster.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54235&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN
PAKISTAN: Early monsoon rains threaten quake reconstruction and relief
Sitting in a hardware shop waiting for glass panes for his house, Salim
Ahmed, 29, looks up anxiously every few minutes at the skies. He is
aware that the seemingly innocuous, fluffy clouds floating overhead can
quickly turn more threatening. Already, many of Pakistan's
quake-affected areas have been hit by rains which signal the full force
of the monsoon may only be days away.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54319&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN
PAKISTAN: Spiralling rents leave quake victims out in the cold
Many of the victims from last year=92s earthquake in
Pakistani-administered Kashmir and Pakistan=92s North West Frontier
Province (NWFP) are facing homelessness as a government reconstruction
scheme has fallen short of helping those not fortunate enough to own
their own homes. For Akhter Bibi, who lost her rented home and all her
possessions in the quake, life is a constant battle to survive. Forced
to live in a makeshift tent with her husband and eight children on a
muddied roadside kerb in Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistani-administered
Kashmir, her future looks bleak.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54321&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN
TURKMENISTAN: Rights group calls for the release of activists
A Turkmen rights group has called for the immediate release of two of
its activists and a journalist from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
(RFE/RL), who were arrested earlier this month on what the group says
are false charges of working to destabilise the Turkmen government. =93We
call upon all international organisations and rights activists,
particularly those in Europe, to demand that the Turkmen government
release these three individuals,=94 Tajigul Begmedora, head of the Turkmen
Helsinki Federation (THF), told IRIN from the Bulgarian port city of
Varna.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54258&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=TURKMENISTAN
IRIN-Asia
Tel: +90 312 454 1177
Fax: +90 312 495 4166
Email: IrinAsia@IRINnews.org
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
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