Weekly Round-Up - IRINAS-142: 23-Sep-07
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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e-mail: irin@irin.org.pk
Asia
IRIN-AS Weekly Round-Up 142
17 - 23 September 2007
CONTENTS:
AFGHANISTAN: Returnees shun specially allocated housing sites
AFGHANISTAN: UN trying to verify civilian casualties with limited
resources
AFGHANISTAN: Polio campaign could get boost on Peace Day
AFGHANISTAN: UN backs peace drive
AFGHANISTAN: Floods cause destruction and displacement in Nangarhar
BANGLADESH: More stranded as second round of flooding hits
BANGLADESH: Post-flood relief drive under way
BANGLADESH: River bank erosion affects economy
CENTRAL ASIA: Governments move to stem spiralling food prices
NEPAL: Violence in south threatens November elections
NEPAL: Fears of renewed civil war as Maoists quit government
PAKISTAN: Roadside dentists pose HIV, hepatitis threat
PAKISTAN: Illegal arms threaten peace across troubled NWFP
SRI LANKA: Text messages help get tsunami alert out
AFGHANISTAN: Returnees shun specially allocated housing sites
Only 19 out of 1,700 returning families from Iran and Pakistan have
settled on land in Herat Province, western Afghanistan, allocated to
them over a year ago.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74351
AFGHANISTAN: UN trying to verify civilian casualties with limited
resources
The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) on 19 September
rejected alleged implications in an IRIN report dated 5 September 2007
that it was seeking to be a "body-counting" authority in Afghanistan.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74396
AFGHANISTAN: Polio campaign could get boost on Peace Day
Humanitarian aid organisations and health bodies have expressed
readiness to carry out a polio vaccination campaign in insecure parts of
Afghanistan should armed conflicts cease on International Peace Day on
21 September.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74409
AFGHANISTAN: UN backs peace drive
In the run-up to the International Day of Peace on 21 September, calls
for peace have been mounting across Afghanistan. To highlight the
country's problems, the UN has placed Afghanistan at the centre of the
Peace One Day campaign in 2007 in a bid to help Afghanistan's 24 million
people have a day of tranquillity after over 25 years of unrelenting
violence.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74416
AFGHANISTAN: Floods cause destruction and displacement in Nangarhar
Flash floods killed three people, displaced dozens and destroyed at
least 100 houses in the Khiwa District of Nangarhar Province in eastern
Afghanistan, Afghanistan National Disaster Management Authorities
(ANDMA) officials told IRIN on 23 September.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74442
BANGLADESH: More stranded as second round of flooding hits
Sixteen of Bangladesh's 64 districts have been affected by a second
round of monsoon flooding this year, while new areas have been inundated
in three south-central districts of the flood-prone nation, including
Dhaka District.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74332
BANGLADESH: Post-flood relief drive under way
The government of Bangladesh is undertaking a major post-flood relief
effort after over two million people were affected by above average
monsoon rains. Since the end of July 39 of the country's 64 districts
have been affected.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74370
BANGLADESH: River bank erosion affects economy
Having abandoned their brick-built school nearby, students at the
government primary school in Shibchar sub-district, Madaripur District,
in south-central Bangladesh, take their lessons under a large banyan
tree. The River Arial Khan, which was over 50 metres from the school
before this year's annual monsoon floods, now flows against its plinth.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74443
CENTRAL ASIA: Governments move to stem spiralling food prices
As prices for staples soar across Central Asia, officials in Kazakhstan
- the region's key grain supplier - have moved to control exports and
stem rising domestic costs, fuelling fears that neighbouring states will
struggle to meet their needs for basic foodstuffs this winter.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74353
NEPAL: Violence in south threatens November elections
Political parties and top government officials have called for calm amid
concerns over increasing violence and tensions in Nepal's agricultural
and industrial heartland, the lowland Terai region of southern Nepal.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74355
NEPAL: Fears of renewed civil war as Maoists quit government
There are growing concerns in Nepal that the country could be dragged
back into a civil war as former Maoist rebels quit the government on 19
September. Maoist ministers resigned from the government after most
governing parties opposed Maoist demands that the monarchy be abolished
by the time of the elections, scheduled for November.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74378
PAKISTAN: Roadside dentists pose HIV, hepatitis threat
Recent studies in Pakistan have shown that roadside barbers, dentists
and doctors are responsible for the rapid spread of diseases such as
hepatitis, as well as HIV/AIDS. Dr Fahd Anwar, a Pakistani dentist based
in the USA, cited an acute shortage of qualified practitioners -
effectively encouraging such practices to thrive.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74330
PAKISTAN: Illegal arms threaten peace across troubled NWFP
Arms, including sophisticated weapons such as missiles, rockets and
automatic machine guns, are proliferating rapidly in Bannu, locals say,
mainly due to fighting between pro-Taliban extremists and government
forces taking place in tribal areas located along North West Frontier
Province's loosely demarcated border with neighbouring Afghanistan.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74398
SRI LANKA: Text messages help get tsunami alert out
Mohideen Ajeemal said his voice cracked with panic and he literally
turned white when he received a 20-word text message on his mobile phone
in the late afternoon of 12 September.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74364
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