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 84
4 - 11 August 2006


CONTENTS:

PAKISTAN: Monsoon rains leave at least 200 dead
PAKISTAN: Flood havoc kills over 110 in north
AFGHANISTAN: Floods kill at least 33 and leave thousands homeless
NEPAL: Interview on demobilisation of child soldiers
NEPAL: Government and Maoists reach agreement over UN's role
NEPAL: Aid work threatened by Maoist rebels
TAJIKISTAN: Thousands remain without shelter following quakes
CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap


PAKISTAN: Monsoon rains leave at least 200 dead

Flooding has killed at least 200 people in Pakistan since the start of
the monsoon season in mid-July. Thirteen people were killed in North
West Frontier Province (NWFP) on Tuesday when flooding swept away the
pick-up truck they were travelling on. Officials said that 12 bodies had
so far been found at the scene in the Khwazakhela area of the Swat
District.

Full report


PAKISTAN: Flood havoc kills over 110 in north

At least 110 people are dead after flooding in Pakistan's North West
Frontier province (NWFP) and parts of Pakistani-administered Kashmir
caused by heavy rains in the area. In one incident, a bridge collapsed
on Saturday in the city of Mardan, 65 km from Peshawar, capital of NWFP,
killing at least 100 people, police in the city said. An estimated 150
people had gathered on the bridge to watch surging floodwaters below
when it was swept away. Many are still missing.

Full report


AFGHANISTAN: Floods kill at least 33 and leave thousands homeless

Thousands of people left homeless by flooding in the southeastern Afghan
provinces of Paktika, Ghazni and Paktia need humanitarian assistance
urgently, local authorities said on Thursday. The flooding, which
started two weeks ago, has killed at least 33 people, officials said.
They called on the government and international aid agencies to provide
emergency relief to those affected.

Full report


NEPAL: Interview on demobilisation of child soldiers

Rights groups are concerned that the government and Maoists have failed
to address the demobilisation, disarming and reintegration (DDR) of
hundreds of child soldiers during Nepal's peace process. The use of
child soldiers - some kidnapped from their villages - during the
decade-long conflict has been widely documented but there are few
detailed figures. Watchlist, a New York-based NGO that monitors the use
of children in armed conflicts, said anecdotal evidence suggested the
practice was widespread in Nepal. Sandra Beidas, a child soldier expert
and head of the protection section in the United Nation's Office of the
High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Nepal's capital,
Kathmandu, wants children removed from the conflict immediately.

Full report


NEPAL: Government and Maoists reach agreement over UN's role

Nepal's interim government and Maoist rebels have reached agreement on
how they want the United Nations (UN) to help with peace efforts,
representatives from both sides said on Wednesday. Home Minister Krishna
Prasad Sitaula, the government's representative, and Krishna Bahadur
Mahara, a rebel spokesman, handed a letter to the UN office in the
capital, Kathmandu, nearly two months after the sides began the peace
process.

Full report


NEPAL: Aid work threatened by Maoist rebels

NGOs working in remote parts of western Nepal have halted development
work due to insecurity and mounting pressure from Maoist rebels. The
Maoists, who are in peace talks with the interim government to end
Nepal's decade-long conflict, have asked local NGOs working in the
impoverished districts of Dadeldhura and Parbat, northwest of the
capital, Kathmandu, to agree to a series of demands or remove their
projects from villages.

Full report


TAJIKISTAN: Thousands remain without shelter following quakes

More than 14,000 people are living in poor conditions with little or no
shelter after two earthquakes jolted southern Tajikistan last month, a
senior Tajik emergency official said on Tuesday. Abdurakhim Rajabov,
deputy head of the Tajik Emergency Ministry, said that the situation was
very difficult.

Full report


CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap

This week in Central Asia, Kyrgyzstan extradited four Uzbek refugees and
one Uzbek asylum seeker on Wednesday. The United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, said that the UN refugee
agency was shocked by the decision. "We fear for their safety. This
refoulement [forced return] is an extremely serious violation of the
1951 Refugee Convention - which Kyrgyzstan has ratified - under which no
refugees should be forcibly returned to their country of origin,"
Guterres said in a statement.

Full report


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