U N I T E D   N A T I O N S
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Integrated Regional Information Network

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Asia
IRIN-AS Weekly Round-Up 76
10 - 16 June 2006


CONTENTS:

AFGHANISTAN: Bodies of aid workers killed in helicopter crash recovered
CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap
KYRGYZSTAN: Outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in south
NEPAL: Interview with UN Resident Representative, Matthew Kahane
NEPAL: Rebels positive about peace talks
NEPAL: Rebels and government to start fresh talks
PAKISTAN: Domestic child trafficking pervasive - report
PAKISTAN: Livelihood assistance programme launched in quake-hit areas
PAKISTAN: Activists condemn development-related evictions in Karachi
PAKISTAN: Anger over delay in quake compensation payments
PAKISTAN: Earthquake survivors caught in limbo
TAJIKISTAN: HIV/AIDS fuelled by drugs, poverty and ignorance
TAJIKISTAN: UN praise peace building, condemns poverty


AFGHANISTAN: Bodies of aid workers killed in helicopter crash recovered

US-led coalition forces in Afghanistan have recovered the bodies of seven
Turkmen aid workers, most of them doctors, who were killed in a helicopter
crash in eastern Afghanistan in January, the US military said in the
capital, Kabul, on Sunday. A Turkmenistan Airlines helicopter, chartered
by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) for a humanitarian
mission in the aftermath of the 8 October 2005 earthquake in neighbouring
Pakistan, disappeared over Afghanistan on 20 January.


CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap

This week in Central Asia, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO)'s
annual week-long meeting opened on Thursday in Shanghai with the leaders
from China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan to
sign agreements on security and transportation, as well as discuss how to
help Afghanistan to combat drug trafficking, Radio Free Europe/Radio
Liberty (RFE/RL) reported on Thursday. China signed a deal with Tajikistan
to build a highway in the former Soviet republic and announced a financial
plan to build a hydro-electric station in Kazakhstan. China also secured
Uzbekistan's support against China's Muslim Uyghurs separatist minority.


KYRGYZSTAN: Outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in south

The Kyrgyz government has imposed an initial 21-day quarantine on cattle
movements in the south of the country following an outbreak of
foot-and-mouth disease. The government has also set up a 30-km buffer zone
around the affected area, Jamgyrchy Bektaev, head of the Southern
Veterinary Department, told the press on 12 June in the southern city of
Osh.


NEPAL: Interview with UN Resident Representative, Matthew Kahane

King Gyanendra yielded to the inevitable and gave up power in April 2006
after nationwide protests for him to reinstate parliament and get out of
politics. Since then a ceasefire has ra ised hopes for a peaceful
resolution to the decade-long conflict. Both the Maoists and the interim
government have called for the United Nations to help guide the Himalayan
kingdom down the road to peace. Matthew Kahane is the United Nations
Resident Representative and Humanitarian Coordinator in Nepal and spoke to
IRIN about the UN's role as mediator in the peace process.


NEPAL: Rebels positive about peace talks

Maoist rebels in Nepal have reiterated their commitment to making the
ongoing peace talks with the new government a success. "We are having
detailed discussions with the government to lead the talks in a positive
direction," said Krishna Bahadur Mahara, senior Maoist leader and
spokesperson for the Maoists, who have been waging an armed rebellion
against the Nepalese state over the last 10 years, demanding a communist
republic.


NEPAL: Rebels and government to start fresh talks

The Nepalese government and Maoist rebels are due to begin a fresh round
of peace talks this week, with both parties determined to see significant
progress towards ending a decade of violence in the Himalayan country,
senior government officials said on Wednesday. "For the coming talks,
very serious homework has been done by both sides," said newly appointed
Deputy Prime Minister Amik Sherchan.


PAKISTAN: Domestic child trafficking pervasive - report< a>

A new study on child trafficking has revealed that levels of domestic
child trafficking in Pakistan's southern Sindh province are much higher
than those for international trafficking in the country. The report
entitled, 'Fading light: A Study on Child Trafficking', released earlier
this week, coinciding with the marking of International Day Against Child
Labour, also highlighted the lack of recognition of complexities involving
domestic child kidnapping, smuggling and trafficking in the country's
existing laws.


PAKISTAN: Livelihood assistance programme launched in quake-hit areas

As part of the early recovery plan, the United Nations World Food
Programme (WFP), together with the government of Pakistan, has launched a
two-year livelihood assistance programme in the country's northern
earthquake-affected areas. Nearly 1 million people of the nine quake-hit
districts in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and
Pakistani-administered Kashmir would benefit from the food-for-work and
food-for-training projects that will cost about US $68 million.


PAKISTAN: Activists condemn development-related evictions in Karachi

Civil society activists are concerned at the continuing high rate of
evictions in Karachi as a result of government-backed investment projects
to develop infrastructure in the Pakistani port city. "So far this year
alone, from January to May, the local authorities have razed nearly 3,500
housing units in various informal settlements in the name of development
across the city, making over 23,000 people virtually homeless. And another
6,000 units are on the plan," Muhammad Younus, Director of the Urban
Resource Centre (URC), a Karachi-based NGO, told IRIN.


PAKISTAN: Anger over delay in quake compensation payments

Many victims of last October' earthquake in Pakistan's North West
Frontier Province (NWFP) and Pakistani-administered Kashmir say they are
growing increasingly angry at government delays in paying out compensation
to help repair or rebuild homes. Both areas affected have already seen
angry protests over alleged delays in paying out the Rs 175,000 (US
$2,966) promised in compensation by the government for owners of houses
destroyed and the Rs 75,000 ($1,271) for those whose homes were damaged.


PAKISTAN: Earthquake survivors caught in limbo

Time seems to have stood still in Balakot, the once picturesque town that
was flattened to the ground by the earthquake, which hit northern areas of
Pakistan and Pakistani-administered Kashmir on 8 October 2005. While in
almost all other areas devastated by the quake, which killed more than
75,000 people, reconstruction work and efforts to rebuild lives and
livelihoods are evident - in Balakot, almost nothing seems to have moved
on over the past eight months.


TAJIKISTAN: HIV/AIDS fuelled by drugs, poverty and ignorance

A young man with cheerful eyes nervously fingered a napkin in a caf e when
talking to IRIN in the Tajik capital, Dushanbe. The 25-year-old is one of
544 people registered as living with HIV/AIDS in the poor, former Soviet
country, although observers put the real figure at more than 10 times this
number. "I should hide that I am HIV-infected, even from my parents.
Though last time I saw them I was about to tell them because they began
suggesting marrying me off," said Azam, (the name is changed), who has
known about his status for almost two years.


TAJIKISTAN: UN praise peace building, condemns poverty

At the start of a three-day visit to Tajikistan, a senior UN official
praised the Central Asian nation's peace process, but said there was more
to do to reduce poverty in the poorest of all former Soviet republics.
"In terms of peace building [in Tajikistan], we are very impressed with
the progress. [The] United Nations Tajikistan Office for Peace Building
(UNTOP) is one of the models of success and has helped to end the conflict
and to consolidate [the nation] for peace," Ibrahim Agboola Gambari, said
after the meeting with Tajik Prime Minister Aqil Aqilov in the Tajik
capital, Dushanbe on Wednesday.


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