Weekly Round-Up - IRINAS-121: 29-Apr-07
U N I T E D N A T I O N S
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Asia
IRIN-AS Weekly Round-Up 121
23 - 29 April 2007
CONTENTS:
AFGHANISTAN: MS Noori, "Handcuffed and blind-folded, I was told to keep
my mouth shut"
AFGHANISTAN: Men in uniforms rob civilians in Helmand
AFGHANISTAN: Abduction of health workers deprives the displaced of
health services
CENTRAL ASIA: Regional water management lacks cohesion
KYRGYZSTAN: Mudslides hit southern areas
NEPAL: NGOs call on government to prioritise food security
NEPAL: IDPs unable to return home despite end of armed conflict
PAKISTAN: Tackling TB still a challenge in Balochistan
PAKISTAN: High hopes for polio eradication efforts
SRI LANKA: On alert for avian flu
SRI LANKA: Bridging food gap remains a challenge
TAJIKISTAN: Polio campaign in Afghan border areas a success
AFGHANISTAN: MS Noori, "Handcuffed and blind-folded, I was told to keep
my mouth shut"
MS Noori works for the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission
(AIHRC) in the volatile province of Kandahar in the south of
Afghanistan. On 1 April 2007, armed men raided his house. He told IRIN
of his bitter experience. "The men ordered me to shut my mouth and
afterwards I was blindfolded and handcuffed. They put all my personal
belongings in a plastic bag and hanged it around my neck. I was told to
sit cross-legged facing the wall."
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71744
AFGHANISTAN: Men in uniforms rob civilians in Helmand
Local residents in the Sangeen district of the restive southern Afghan
province of Helmand said armed Afghan men in military uniforms looted
their homes and businesses in early April. There are conflicting reports
on whether the men were allied with international forces fighting the
Taliban or whether they were an independent militia.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71770
AFGHANISTAN: Abduction of health workers deprives the displaced of
health services
Up to 50,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the Zhari Dasht camp
in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar have been denied health
services for almost one month after the abduction of five health workers
in the province. Doctors have since refused to travel on the dangerous
roads leading there.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71821
CENTRAL ASIA: Regional water management lacks cohesion
As officials and water specialists from across Central Asia gathered in
the Kazakh commercial capital of Almaty to mark a decade and a half of
post-Soviet efforts to regulate scarce water supplies in the region,
there are doubts about whether they are prepared to make committed
efforts to assure water security for the region's more than 55 million
inhabitants.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71799
KYRGYZSTAN: Mudslides hit southern areas
Mudslides caused by heavy rains have hit southern Kyrgyzstan flooding
more than 300 homes, the Ministry of Emergencies (MOE) reported on
Tuesday. A total of 209 houses were hit in villages, with many more
households affected by the flooding, the MOE said. This is the second
time southern Kyrgyzstan has been hit by floods and mudflows over the
past few days. Mop-up operations are still under way in the area after
heavy downpours caused floods and mudslides last week in Jalalabad and
neighbouring Osh province.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71780
NEPAL: NGOs call on government to prioritise food security
The Nepalese government must do more to address hunger in the country,
an international fact-finding mission of experts on the human right to
food has concluded, describing hunger and food insecurity across the
country as 'pervasive'. The findings suggest that food insecurity was
pervasive in food-surplus as well as food-deficit districts. Mostly
affected were women and children, Adivasi janajatis (indigenous ethnic
groups), dalits (low-caste groups), Kamayas, Haliyas and Haruwas (bonded
labourers) and people living with HIV/AIDS.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71749
NEPAL: IDPs unable to return home despite end of armed conflict
Hundreds of thousands of people displaced from their homes during the
decade-long war between Maoist rebels and the government are having
difficulty returning to their homes, despite the conflict ending in
November 2006, aid workers say. Last year, the Nepalese government
estimated that there were more than 200,000 internally displaced people
(IDPs) in the country but there is no accurate information on whether
that number has reduced after peace was achieved five months ago.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71818
PAKISTAN: Tackling TB still a challenge in Balochistan
Despite official campaigns over the past few decades, in Pakistan
tuberculosis is perceived as being incurable and its infectious nature
means the sufferer is often shunned. Among infectious diseases, TB
remains the leading cause of death by infectious disease in the country.
Among infectious diseases, TB remains the leading cause of death by
infectious disease in Pakistan. Each year, according to the World Health
Organization (WHO), 250,000 more people across the country contract the
disease.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71758
PAKISTAN: High hopes for polio eradication efforts
The World Health Organization (WHO) believes this year's campaign to
eradicate polio in Pakistan, one of four countries in the world where
the virus remains endemic, will prove successful. As many as 33 million
children under the age of five will be immunised against the
debilitating disease.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71777
SRI LANKA: On alert for avian flu
Sri Lanka has so far averted an outbreak of avian influenza with
preventive measures, but the island nation is stepping up vigilance as
the deadly virus flares up in other South Asian nations. Restrictions on
poultry imports and surveillance of domestic and wild birds helped keep
the country disease-free until now, but authorities are concerned that
with bird flu appearing in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan, that status
could be threatened.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71774
SRI LANKA: Bridging food gap remains a challenge
Food distribution to the 140,000 displaced people in Batticaloa district
has improved; now relief agencies and government authorities are
attempting to fill gaps in food availability, principally for those
staying with host families. According to a United Nations Inter-Agency
Standing Committee (IASC) report for the second week of April: "A gap of
approximately 18,000 [displaced people] staying with host families
exists ." The IASC report indicated that government authorities planned
to target them for food distribution.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71801
TAJIKISTAN: Polio campaign in Afghan border areas a success
A three-day polio vaccination campaign targeting about 300,000 children
below three years of age in Tajikistan's districts bordering Afghanistan
was a success, officials said. Supported by UNICEF, with vaccine
procurement, and the World Health Organization (WHO), with technical and
financial support, the campaign covered 26 districts bordering
Afghanistan and ended on Wednesday.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71797
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