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Asia
IRIN-AS Weekly Round-Up 168
17 - 23 March 2008


CONTENTS:

AFGHANISTAN: Drought not floods more likely in 2008 - UNAMA
AFGHANISTAN: Students play truant to work in Helmand's poppy fields
AFGHANISTAN-PAKISTAN: Afghans reluctant to leave Jalozai refugee camp
BANGLADESH: Precarious lives of river island dwellers
PAKISTAN: Violent attacks now focusing on new targets?
PAKISTAN: Mammoth measles campaign nears completion
PHILIPPINES: Conflict IDPs in Mindanao face shortages
SRI LANKA: Spreading the news to IDPs
SRI LANKA: Flash floods displace thousands in war-torn area
SRI LANKA: Election begins to solidify government control
SRI LANKA: Boosting capacity in "psychological first aid"
TIMOR-LESTE: IDPs begin to return home as security improves


AFGHANISTAN: Drought not floods more likely in 2008 - UNAMA

Despite widespread concern that millions could be vulnerable to seasonal 
flooding as a result of rapid thawing of unusually heavy winter snow, 
the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has said it does not 
believe "severe floods" - as witnessed in 2007 - will occur in 2008.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=77317


AFGHANISTAN: Students play truant to work in Helmand's poppy fields

Esmatullah, aged 14, had pains in his back and legs from working in a 
poppy field in Helmand Province, southern Afghanistan, on 5 March. He 
has been absent from school since that date.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=77346


AFGHANISTAN-PAKISTAN: Afghans reluctant to leave Jalozai refugee camp

Afghans in Jalozai refugee camp, Pakistan's largest refugee camp, are 
reluctant to leave, despite a deadline to vacate coming up in less than 
a month.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=77380


BANGLADESH: Precarious lives of river island dwellers

Home to over 600,000 inhabitants, Bangaldesh's river islands are 
periodically submerged. They flood in July as the rainwater from the 
Himalayas rushes southwards, only to reappear in November. Most of the 
river island displaced live along the river banks until the rains stop 
and the rivers begin to recede.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=77342


PAKISTAN: Violent attacks now focusing on new targets?

Militants behind a recent wave of suicide and bomb attacks on Pakistani 
security forces appear to have changed tactics this weekend: Aid workers 
and/or foreigners could be the new targets.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=77322


PAKISTAN: Mammoth measles campaign nears completion

A one-year effort to immunise 64 million children in Pakistan against 
measles, the largest public health campaign of its kind in the world, is 
one step closer to completion.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=77337


PHILIPPINES: Conflict IDPs in Mindanao face shortages

Baikongan Ismail sits in a small airless schoolroom in Datu Piang, a 
mountain of plastic chairs piled behind her. The classroom has been home 
to her family of six for three months, ever since renewed armed 
hostilities between competing local clans, backed by the Moro Islamic 
Liberation Front (MILF), forced them to evacuate their farm in Barangay 
Pandi in mid-December 2007.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=77347


SRI LANKA: Spreading the news to IDPs

People receiving emergency relief rarely know exactly what is available 
for them, or how to access it. For many people escaping violence in Sri 
Lanka's war zones and stuck in camps, information on basic services or 
job and education opportunities could be vital.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=77309


SRI LANKA: Flash floods displace thousands in war-torn area

More than 50,000 people have been hit by flooding in northwestern Mannar 
District in Sri Lanka since 12 March, the government said. The area has 
witnessed intense clashes between government forces and the Liberation 
Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) during the last six months, restricting 
access to relief agencies.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=77372


SRI LANKA: Election begins to solidify government control

The overwhelming success of the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP), 
a breakaway faction of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), in 
the 10 March local government elections in the eastern Batticaloa 
District has prompted the group, backed by the Sri Lankan government, to 
seek additional victories at provincial level.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=77373


SRI LANKA: Boosting capacity in "psychological first aid"

There are almost 7,000 Sri Lankans, among them about 1,000 teachers, who 
have been trained in "psychological first aid, community and personal 
mental health and stress management" under a US$5 million post-tsunami 
psychosocial programme funded by the American Red Cross (ARC).

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=77405


TIMOR-LESTE: IDPs begin to return home as security improves

A month after the attacks in Timor-Leste that left rebel leader Alfredo 
Reinado dead and President Jose Ramos Horta wounded, some of the 30,000 
internally displaced people (IDPs) living in camps throughout Dili, the 
capital, are returning home.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=77376


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