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Asia
IRIN-AS Weekly Round-Up 27
27 February - 3 March 2006


CONTENTS:

AFGHANISTAN: Nationwide polio vaccination drive
AFGHANISTAN: World Bank offers US $30 million boost to health
AFGHANISTAN: Deadly prison siege over
AFGHANISTAN: Investment climate improving - World Bank
AFGHANISTAN: WFP urgently needs US $11 million
CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap
IRAN: UNHCR to assist 150,000 Afghan returnees in 2006
KYRGYZSTAN: HIV/AIDS film gains popularity
KYRGYZSTAN: Informal mining of radioactive dumps linked to cancer rise
KYRGYZSTAN: UNHCR hopeful over the fate of Andijan four
NEPAL: Battling to prevent avian flu
NEPAL: Young people at increasing risk
NEPAL: UN condemns bomb attack on WFP office
PAKISTAN: Poppy cultivation resumes - INCB report
PAKISTAN: Afghan voluntary repatriation starts anew
PAKISTAN: UN presents post-quake recovery plan
PAKISTAN: Water a major challenge for earthquake survivors
PAKISTAN: 25,000 birds culled after confirmation of avian flu
PAKISTAN: Hunza guides help assess high-altitude quake damage
TAJIKISTAN: Deminers call on donors for more funds
UZBEKISTAN: Key opposition leader convicted


AFGHANISTAN: Nationwide polio vaccination drive

More than 7 million children under the age of five across Afghanistan
will be vaccinated against the crippling polio virus next week as part
of a joint United Nations-government initiative, the UN said on Monday.
"Between March 5 and 7, children in all 34 provinces of Afghanistan will
receive oral polio vaccines in a joint initiative of the Ministry of
Public Health, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World
Health Organization (WHO)," Aleem Siddique, senior public information
officer for the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan
(UNAMA), told reporters at a press conference at the Afghan capital,
Kabul.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51952&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN


AFGHANISTAN: World Bank offers US $30 million boost to health

The World Bank has approved a US $30 million supplemental grant to
support the Afghan government's efforts to extend basic health services
in the war-ravaged country, the bank said in a statement on Tuesday.
"This package of health services which we are financing is the most
effective and equitable means of improving the health of Afghans,"
Benjamin Loevinsohn, a World Bank public health specialist, said in the
press release.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51971&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN


AFGHANISTAN: Deadly prison siege over

A deadly prison siege in Afghanistan's capital Kabul, which left five
dead and injured 23 prisoners, ended on Wednesday after authorities took
control of the notorious jail, officials said. The riot began late on
Saturday in a block of the Pul-e-Charkhi prison on the eastern outskirts
of the capital after prisoners refused to put on new uniforms, delivered
in response to a breakout last month by seven Taliban prisoners who had
disguised themselves as visitors.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51985&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN


AFGHANISTAN: Investment climate improving - World Bank

A World Bank report released on Saturday said that the investment
climate in Afghanistan was improving, but identified key constraints to
capital inflows. The report called on the government to do more to
promote private-sector development. Based on a survey of 338 companies
in five Afghan cities, the report said the most serious constraints for
private-sector developments were reliable mains electricity, access to
land and finance and the scourge of corruption.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51925&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN


AFGHANISTAN: WFP urgently needs US $11 million

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned on Monday that its
Afghanistan operation was facing critical shortages in supplying food to
3.5 million vulnerable people, and called on donors to provide urgent
funds to prevent food shortages in the post-conflict country. "A break
in food supplies looms in March if donations are not forthcoming. WFP
immediately requires US $11 million to fund its current operations until
June 2006," the UN agency said in a statement.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51929&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN


CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap

About 1,000 demonstrators defied truncheon-wielding riot police on
Sunday in Kazakhstan's largest city Almaty, pushing ahead with a banned
march to commemorate slain opposition leader Altynbek Sarsenbayev, who
was abducted and killed along with his driver and bodyguard earlier in
February, AP reported. Sarsenbayev's supporters have called his murder a
politically motivated killing. Their bodies were found in the mountains
near Almaty, their hands tied and their bodies riddled with bullets.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52000&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=CENTRAL_ASIA


IRAN: UNHCR to assist 150,000 Afghan returnees in 2006

The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
says that based on last year's returns it is budgeting to assist an
estimated 150,000 Afghan refugees to voluntarily return to their
homeland this year from Iran, host to one of the largest refugee
populations in the world. UNHCR Iran adds that should the number of
voluntary returns increase, it will adjust its programmes accordingly.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51991&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=IRAN


KYRGYZSTAN: HIV/AIDS film gains popularity

A film highlighting the plight of people living with HIV/AIDS in
Kyrgyzstan is becoming increasingly popular in major urban areas of the
former Soviet republic, where the virus is on the rise. The film,
entitled 'Love as a Trial' shows the reality of Kyrgyz society as it
works to overcome traditional stereotypes and stigma about the disease.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51924&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=KYRGYZSTAN


KYRGYZSTAN: Informal mining of radioactive dumps linked to cancer rise

Hundreds of people dressed in dirty clothes and masks are digging in a
refuse site for lumps of silicon just 10 metres from a radioactive waste
dump in the northern Kyrgyz village of Orlovka, 100 km east of the
capital, Bishkek. Through the stench of rotting rubbish and the dust,
"miners" sitting around eating and drinking become aggressive when asked
if they are aware of the dangers they face.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51970&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=KYRGYZSTAN


KYRGYZSTAN: UNHCR hopeful over the fate of Andijan four

The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
remains upbeat over the fate of four UNHCR-mandated refugees from the
eastern Uzbek city of Andijan currently being held in custody in
Kyrgyzstan and denied refugee status. Tashkent wants their deportation
for involvement in the Andijan uprising in May 2005. "Two of the four
have heard yesterday that they are not recognised as refugees. This was
an appeal against the first instance court decision and has now been
finite. [But] they still have a chance to go to the Supreme Court. So,
we are waiting for a Supreme Court decision," Astrid van Genderen Stort,
a UNHCR spokeswoman, said from Geneva on Friday.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52002&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=KYRGYZSTAN


NEPAL: Battling to prevent avian flu

Health authorities in Nepal are holding a series of emergency meetings
to introduce tough preventive measures against avian influenza. Although
there has been no evidence of bird flu in the Himalayan kingdom to date,
a confirmed outbreak of the disease among poultry in the Indian states
of Maharashtra and Gujarat on 19 February has led to a ban on poultry
imports from India.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51948&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=NEPAL


NEPAL: Young people at increasing risk

Fulkaji Pradhan shows the stitches on his abdomen, which was torn apart
when a roadside bomb exploded near him. "I saw the inside of my stomach.
I thought I would die," recalled 14-year-old Pradhan, who collapsed only
a few seconds later while trying to walk towards a hospital in the town
of Panauti, 30 km south of the Nepali capital, Kathmandu. Pradhan and
his friends had been playing on the main road when a bomb hidden inside
a cooking pot exploded after one of the children stepped on it.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51947&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=NEPAL


NEPAL: UN condemns bomb attack on WFP office

The United Nations in Nepal expressed serious concern on Friday over the
attack a day earlier on the World Food Programme (WFP) office in the
town of Damak, nearly 700 km east of the capital, Kathmandu. Two bombs
exploded in WFP's compound. "The UN strongly condemns such attack which
violates international humanitarian law and basic operating guidelines,"
said the statement released by the UN system in Nepal.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52001&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=NEPAL


PAKISTAN: Poppy cultivation resumes - INCB report

Poppy cultivation has resumed in Pakistan, though on a small scale, says
a new report from the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB). The
board has urged Islamabad to intensify its eradication efforts to avoid
the country becoming a major source of opium and heroin. The INCB is an
independent body monitoring the implementation of United Nations
drug-control conventions.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51994&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN


PAKISTAN: Afghan voluntary repatriation starts anew

After a winter break of three months, the office of the United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Wednesday resumed its
voluntary repatriation assistance programme for Afghan refugees in
Pakistan. The programme is now in its last operational year under the
exiting tripartite agreement between Islamabad, Kabul and UNHCR that
expires in December 2006.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51992&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN


PAKISTAN: UN presents post-quake recovery plan

The United Nations has introduced a one-year action plan for
humanitarian agencies and donors involved in the transition from relief
to reconstruction in quake-hit northern Pakistan, the United Nations
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a
press release on Monday. "The humanitarian plan covering a one-year
period [from April 2006] is a set of guidelines for the donors to
identify how and where to expend the money concretely," Jan
Vandemoortele, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Pakistan, said while
presenting the plan recently in Geneva.


PAKISTAN: Water a major challenge for earthquake survivors

Balancing a huge, iron pot on her head, young Zahida negotiates a steep,
rocky track up the side of a mountain. When the rain turns the earth
into thick mud, the route is treacherous. But Zahida must still brave
the 2-km journey to the nearest mountain stream to collect water as the
village spring has dried up. "Our biggest problem is water and it's not
just a problem in our village, but in all the villages here," said Mir
Zemaan, the community leader in Mirjali village, sweeping an arm towards
the endless valleys around him.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51956&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN


PAKISTAN: 25,000 birds culled after confirmation of avian flu

As many as 25,000 chickens were culled on Tuesday at two poultry farms
in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP), where low pathogenic
avian influenza, a mild form of bird flu, had been detected one day
earlier. "As a precautionary measure all the birds at suspected farms in
the two cities have been destroyed," Dr Muhammad Afzal, livestock
commissioner at the Ministry of Food and Agriculture said in the
Pakistani capital, Islamabad. However, "There is no report of bird flu
from any other farm in the country to date," he added.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51955&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN


PAKISTAN: Hunza guides help assess high-altitude quake damage

The UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS) is using 25 local mountain
guides from the Hunza Valley in northern Pakistan to conduct assessments
in areas devastated by October's earthquake and provide information to
UN agencies. Some 15 guides are working in the Allai Valley in the
Battagram district of North West Frontier Province (NWFP) conducting
assessments for the World Food Programme (WFP), while five guides are
working in the Neelum Valley in the Muzaffarabad district and five are
working around Bagh.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51980&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN


TAJIKISTAN: Deminers call on donors for more funds

The Tajik Mine Action Centre (TMAC) is calling for more funds from
international donors to boost the clearing of about 25 million square
metres of minefields in Tajikistan, TMAC manager Jonmahmad Rajabov said
on Thursday. "Of the total amount of US $3 million requested, donors
have confirmed a donation of about $1.5 million for the current year so
far," Rajabov said at a press conference at the United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP) premises in the Tajik capital, Dushanbe.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51983&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=TAJIKISTAN


UZBEKISTAN: Key opposition leader convicted

An Uzbek court on Wednesday sentenced a key member of a banned
opposition group to 10 years in prison for economic crimes. Tashkent
city court convicted Nodira Hidoyatova, a coordinator of the Sunshine
Uzbekistan Coalition, to 10 years in prison, banned her from holding
positions of responsibility for three years after her release and fined
her over US $200,000 after finding her guilty on seven charges,
including tax evasion, money laundering and hiding foreign currency -
charges Hidoyatova's lawyer flatly denied.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51972&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=UZBEKISTAN


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