Weekly Round-Up - IRINAS-92: 06-Oct-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 92
30 September - 6 October 2006
CONTENTS:
AFGHANISTAN: Over 300 schools closed in south
AFGHANISTAN: More assistance needed for 80,000 displaced by southern
conflict
AFGHANISTAN: Aid workers hope NATO takeover will improve security
CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap
NEPAL: Rebels threaten to disrupt peace process
PAKISTAN: Relatives of the disappeared call for action
PAKISTAN: Serious water shortage hits quake town
PAKISTAN: IOM to start winter needs assessment in quake zone
PAKISTAN: Thousands of quake survivors still homeless one year on
PAKISTAN: Quake helicopter service returns in November
UZBEKISTAN: Watchdogs slam government crackdown on independent
journalists
AFGHANISTAN: Over 300 schools closed in south
Schools in southern Afghanistan are closing in large numbers due to
pressure and intimidation from the resurgent Taliban movement, leading
to an education crisis in the volatile region, officials say. Almost 150
educational institutes have closed in Kandahar province alone, according
to the education ministry. Regionally more than 50 schools have been
attacked this year.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55789&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN
AFGHANISTAN: More assistance needed for 80,000 displaced by southern
conflict
Internally displaced persons (IDPs) in southern Afghanistan who have
left their homes due to fighting say they urgently need more assistance.
Recent fierce fighting between NATO, government and Taliban militants
forced 40-year-old Bibe Gula to flee her home in Zangawat village in the
district of Panjwai, some 30 km west of Kandahar city. She stood among
dozens of other displaced villagers including men, women and children in
Panjwai bazaar hoping to get assistance from the government.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55823&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN
AFGHANISTAN: Aid workers hope NATO takeover will improve security
NATO took over command of military operations in eastern Afghanistan
from the US-led coalition on Thursday, prompting aid workers in the
country to call for action from the organisation on improving security
and engaging more with the local community. "We hope that NATO will
boost efforts to ensure safety of aid workers in Noristan and many parts
of Kunar provinces where access has been very poor due to insecurity,"
said Mohammad Hashim Mayar, deputy head of the Agency Coordinating Body
for Afghan Relief (ACBAR).
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55841&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN
CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap
This week in Central Asia, anthrax cases have been reported in southern
Kazakhstan, the Kazakh Telegraph Agency said on Wednesday, citing the
country's emergencies ministry. Nine people from three villages in the
South Kazakhstan region with suspected symptoms of anthrax were taken to
hospital for treatment, the report said. More than 460 people who came
into close contact with those infected are under medical observation,
the Russian Interfax news agency reported. Anthrax is a disease caused
by spore-forming bacteria. It can be transmitted to humans through
contact with contaminated animal substances such as hair, faeces or
hides and is characterised by fever.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55852&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=CENTRAL_ASIA
NEPAL: Rebels threaten to disrupt peace process
Frustrated with Nepal's slow moving peace process, Maoist rebels have
told the interim government to rapidly finalise a peace agreement or
face a sustained uprising in the capital, Kathmandu. "If the government
fails to prepare itself to reach a political resolution during
[forthcoming peace] talks, there is a possibility of an urban uprising,"
said Maoist leader and negotiator Dinanath Sharma.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55844&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=NEPAL
PAKISTAN: Relatives of the disappeared call for action
At a workshop on enforced disappearances organised by Amnesty
International (AI) and the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) in
Islamabad over the weekend, dozens of families of the 'disappeared'
called for action to stop abductions and to help trace those missing.
"We need all organisations to join together and urge the government to
solve this issue. The lives of dozens have been ruined," Khalid Khwaja,
the spokesperson for the families, and head of the Islamic Centre for
the Defence of Human Rights, which is representing the families, said.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55790&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN
PAKISTAN: Serious water shortage hits quake town
Some 20,000 people in the town of Balakot, which was badly devastated in
last October's 7.6 magnitude earthquake, have been facing a severe
shortage of clean water for the last month, according to local
authorities. But resource-constrained local authorities are helpless to
resolve the problem of providing water to the population of the town,
located 200 km north of the Pakistani capital Islamabad, and are looking
for external donor support, officials said on Monday.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55801&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN
PAKISTAN: IOM to start winter needs assessment in quake zone
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is preparing to
deploy its rapid response teams to conduct a winter needs assessment
survey in the worst quake-affected areas of Pakistani-administered
Kashmir and North West Frontier Province (NWFP), before the onset of the
Himalayan winter. "The survey will evaluate the adequacy of existing
shelters, availability of food and non-food items and accessibility to
remote areas in 100 of the most quake-affected Union Councils [smallest
administrative unit]," Hassan Abdel Moneim Mostafa, IOM's regional
representative for West and Central Asia said in the Pakistani capital,
Islamabad, on Tuesday.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55821&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN
PAKISTAN: Thousands of quake survivors still homeless one year on
Almost a year on, many survivors of last October's devastating
earthquake in northern Pakistan face the coming winter without adequate
shelter. Abdul Ghafoor, 60, squints his eyes as he peers up towards the
mountains above his village of Kashian, in Balakot district.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55842&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN
PAKISTAN: Quake helicopter service returns in November
The United Nations Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) in Pakistan is
gearing up to mobilise its helicopter operations for the winter months
by the start of November. It will carry food and non-food items across
the earthquake-affected areas as poor weather makes access increasingly
difficult, officials said on Thursday. UNHAS, a non-profit UN service
provider under the stewardship of the World Food Programme (WFP) would
run at least four helicopters during its four-month winter operation
from November to February 2007.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55838&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN
UZBEKISTAN: Watchdogs slam government crackdown on independent
journalists
Media watchdog groups have condemned the persecution of two journalists
in Uzbekistan - one confined to a mental hospital, another in prison.
"We condemn the imprisonment and torture of independent journalists [in
Uzbekistan] as in the Soviet era," Zuzana Loubet del Bayle, Europe desk
officer with Reporters Without Borders (RWB), said from Paris on
Tuesday.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55803&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=UZBEKISTAN
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