Weekly Round-Up - IRINAS-143: 30-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
Tel: +92-51-2211451 Ext 484
Fax: +92-51-2211 450
e-mail: irin@irin.org.pk
Asia
IRIN-AS Weekly Round-Up 143
18 - 30 September 2007
CONTENTS:
AFGHANISTAN: Increasing armed robberies, abductions in Herat
AFGHANISTAN: Children share deprivations of imprisoned mothers
AFGHANISTAN: Thousands flee Taliban, aerial bombing in south
BANGLADESH: Malnourished poor children face nutrition crunch
KAZAKHSTAN: Authorities move to ward off Lake Alakol flood threat
NEPAL: Over 5,000 people displaced after ethnic violence in south
NEPAL: Children severely affected by ethnic violence in south
IRAQ-PAKISTAN: Iraqi refugees in limbo awaiting third country
resettlement
PAKISTAN: World Bank recommends improved flood forecasting
PAKISTAN: Cholera fear as parts of Hyderabad still knee-deep in
floodwater
SRI LANKA: Long-term Muslim displaced face significant challenges
AFGHANISTAN: Increasing armed robberies, abductions in Herat
Increasing armed robberies and abductions are causing widespread concern
in Herat, a relatively peaceful province in western Afghanistan. In one
of the most recent cases, over 600 workers at a flourmill in Herat
Province lost their jobs when the company was shut down after its owner
was abducted by armed men in September.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74465
AFGHANISTAN: Children share deprivations of imprisoned mothers
Fatima (not her real name) lives with her mother and a younger brother
in Pul-e Charkhi prison, in the eastern outskirts of Kabul. The
12-year-old was first brought to the prison four years ago, after a
court sentenced her mother to 11 years for murdering her husband.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74491
AFGHANISTAN: Thousands flee Taliban, aerial bombing in south
Over 2,500 families have left their homes in different districts of
insurgency-battered Helmand, Uruzgan and Kandahar provinces in southern
Afghanistan over the past two months, provincial officials told IRIN on
27 September.
[Listen to IRIN radio report in Dari or Pashto:
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74514]
Many displaced civilians who have flocked into Kandahar city say they
left their homes because Taliban insurgents tried to force them to join
their ranks, feed and care for their wounded fighters and provide
financial support for their campaign.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74516
BANGLADESH: Malnourished poor children face nutrition crunch
As flood waters continue to recede throughout much of Bangladesh after
this year's above average monsoon rains, health experts have expressed
concern over child malnutrition in the country.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74486
KAZAKHSTAN: Authorities move to ward off Lake Alakol flood threat
Measures are being taken in Kazakhstan to ward off a flood threat to
villages from a lake on the border with China. Strong winds at Lake
Alakol cause waves to pound its shores and erode the banks, experts say,
bringing the waters closer to inhabited areas. If measures are not taken
to shore up the disintegrating banks, erosion could cause the lake to
flood settlements, and also holiday camps catering to the summer tourist
trade.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74471
NEPAL: Over 5,000 people displaced after ethnic violence in south
Over 5,000 people have been displaced over the past week in southeastern
Nepal due to violence between Pahade and Madhesi ethnic groups,
according to a report released on 24 September by the Human Rights
Treaty Monitoring Coordination Committee (HRTMCC), a joint forum of
non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Nepal working in the field of
human rights.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74457
NEPAL: Children severely affected by ethnic violence in south
Shocked by the brutal killing of her father, seven-year old schoolgirl
Nisha Sunwar can barely sleep or eat. "What had my father done? Why did
they kill him?" asked the young girl.
Her 40-year-old father Subaram was killed by a group of Madhesi people
in Devipur village, Kapilvastu District, southeastern Nepal, after their
local leader Mohit Khan was assassinated by unknown persons recently,
said local villagers.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74497
IRAQ-PAKISTAN: Iraqi refugees in limbo awaiting third country
resettlement
"I can't go back to Iraq. If I do they will kill me," Iraqi asylum
seeker Fadhel Nama Audah, 50, said. He could not return because his
political connections with Saddam Hussein's regime effectively barred
him.
Married with seven children, his eyes welled up with tears as he
recalled the overland journey to Pakistan through Iran eight years ago
in the hope of finding a better life for his family.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74448
PAKISTAN: World Bank recommends improved flood forecasting
Nearly three months after devastating floods hit southern Pakistan over
250,000 people are still living in makeshift shelters or camps,
according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
(OCHA). In Dadu District, Sindh Province, Fayyaz, 30, and his family
live in a shelter by the side of a road.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74494
PAKISTAN: Cholera fear as parts of Hyderabad still knee-deep in
floodwater
Rukhsana Naz, an irate housewife in Hyderabad's badly flooded city
centre Railway Colony, stood in knee-deep water inside her home and
sloshed one foot around to show how dirty the water was. "It's been like
this since it rained in mid-August. There's water everywhere, inside our
homes, and we have no choice but to live with it," she said.
Hyderabad, the second largest city in the southern province of Sindh,
was inundated about a month ago after heavy rains, and some parts of the
city remain flooded.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74515
SRI LANKA: Long-term Muslim displaced face significant challenges
It was 17 years ago, but the memory is still fresh for T. Mohamed. "It
was 11 June 1990 - that was the day," he recalled, the one that changed
his life.
"I was in Colombo, captaining the Jaffna District soccer team and later
I found myself cut off from my home town Jaffna," the 45-year-old Sri
Lankan remembered. Mohamed, who is now a social worker, was among the
thousands of Muslims forced out of their homes in northern Sri Lanka by
the Tamil Tigers in 1990. In his case, caught out on a visit to the
capital, he was unable to return because the train and other transport
services to Jaffna District were cut due to the escalating violence.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74522
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
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