Weekly Round-Up - IRINAS-134: 29-Jul-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 134
23 - 29 July 2007
CONTENTS:
AFGHANISTAN: Clashes over pastures threaten to ignite further conflict
AFGHANISTAN: Taliban plant hundreds of mines in Helmand Province
AFGHANISTAN: UN funds specialists to help investigate mass graves
AFGHANISTAN: UNICEF appeals for more aid to help women, children
KAZAKHSTAN: Environmentalists call for caution in mercury cleanup in
north
NEPAL: Hundreds displaced by violence in southeast
PAKISTAN: Aid agencies to assess flood-hit areas on 24 July
PAKISTAN: Over a million children at risk of disease in flood-hit south
- UNICEF
PAKISTAN: Flood-affected Afghan refugees receive assistance in
Balochistan
SRI LANKA: A vital lifeline for families torn apart
SRI LANKA: New security measures slow deliveries to the Vanni
TAJIKISTAN: Landslide, earthquake kills 14
AFGHANISTAN: Clashes over pastures threaten to ignite further conflict
Afghanistan will become embroiled in another violent armed conflict,
this time between two ethnic groups, if grievances over access to
grazing land are not immediately and appropriately addressed, warns the
country's human rights commission.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73373
AFGHANISTAN: Taliban plant hundreds of mines in Helmand Province
Provincial officials say Taliban insurgents have planted hundreds of
anti-personnel mines in several districts of Helmand in the last six
months. Engaged in long battles with Afghan security forces backed by
NATO-led international troops, Taliban fighters have turned to landmines
to block entry to areas where they operate, said Nabijan Molakhiel, a
former police chief.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73390
AFGHANISTAN: UN funds specialists to help investigate mass graves
The UN has invited forensic specialists from an international
organisation to help investigate over 80 mass graves discovered in
different parts of war-torn Afghanistan, officials told IRIN in Kabul.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73408
AFGHANISTAN: UNICEF appeals for more aid to help women, children
In 2007 floods, diseases, drought and armed conflict have increased the
need for humanitarian aid in Afghanistan, the UN Children's Agency
(UNICEF) said in its donor update report issued on 26 July. Women and
children have been particularly affected, it said.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73444
KAZAKHSTAN: Environmentalists call for caution in mercury cleanup in
north
As a long-planned operation to clean up a major source of mercury
pollution in northern Kazakhstan gets under way, environmentalists and
academics are calling for caution in dealing with the highly toxic
substance.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73406
NEPAL: Hundreds displaced by violence in southeast
Local non-governmental organisations (NGOs), the UN, and aid agencies
working with internally displaced persons (IDPs) have expressed concern
over the newly displaced Nepalese whose numbers are growing.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73398
PAKISTAN: Aid agencies to assess flood-hit areas on 24 July
A joint team from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the World Bank,
with support from the UN and wider humanitarian community, is to begin a
needs assessment in Pakistan's flood-hit provinces of Balochistan and
Sindh on 24 July. The area was devastated in late June by cyclone
Yemyin, leaving hundreds of thousands homeless and almost 300 dead.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73369
PAKISTAN: Over a million children at risk of disease in flood-hit south
- UNICEF
Over a million children are at risk of infectious diseases in Pakistan's
flood-affected provinces of Balochistan and Sindh after last month's
devastating cyclone Yemyin, which left nearly 300 dead and close to
400,000 homeless.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73400
PAKISTAN: Flood-affected Afghan refugees receive assistance in
Balochistan
An estimated 4,000 Afghan refugees living in camps in Pakistan's
flood-affected Balochistan Province are now receiving assistance, the
office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has confirmed.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73433
SRI LANKA: A vital lifeline for families torn apart
Thousands of Sri Lankans, separated by fighting between the security
forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), are turning to
the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)and its local
partner, the Sri Lanka Red Cross (SLRC), to trace missing family
members.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73383
SRI LANKA: New security measures slow deliveries to the Vanni
Heightened security measures and renewed skirmishes between the
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and government forces are
causing severe delays in delivering supplies and price increases in
goods and fuel in four northern districts of Sri Lanka, officials said.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73441
TAJIKISTAN: Landslide, earthquake kills 14
An earthquake measuring 5.5 on the Richter scale, and a landslide
triggered by torrential rains, killed 14 people in Tajikistan over the
weekend, according to officials. The landslide ripped through a resort
area in the Asht District of northern Soghd Province on 22 July at 2pm
local time.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73367
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