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Asia
IRIN-AS Weekly Round-Up 21
30 July - 5 August 2007


CONTENTS:

AFGHANISTAN: Environmental crisis looms as conflict goes on
AFGHANISTAN: Rights group, UN sceptical about reduced civilian
   casualties
AFGHANISTAN: Taliban propaganda effective among Pashtoons
AFGHANISTAN: NGOs question new government directive on armed escorts
NEPAL: Aid efforts stepped up as dozens killed in floods
NEPAL: Some 90 dead, 5,000 displaced as floods worsen in southwest
PAKISTAN: Insecurity threatens quake rehabilitation work
PAKISTAN: NGOs criticise government over lack of tents in
   flood-affected Balochistan
PAKISTAN: Shelter specialists call for further cooperation in flood
   areas
PAKISTAN: Anti-measles measures in flood-affected south
SRI LANKA: Conflict disrupts ongoing demining effort


AFGHANISTAN: Environmental crisis looms as conflict goes on

Afghanistan will face a serious environmental crisis, which will have 
grave consequences for millions of its estimated 27 million population, 
if the government and international aid organisations continue ignoring 
the country's degrading environment, experts warn.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73481


AFGHANISTAN: Rights group, UN sceptical about reduced civilian 
casualties

Afghan and international forces fighting Taliban insurgents in 
Afghanistan have agreed on a number of measures designed to minimise 
civilian casualties in their military operations, officials told IRIN.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73504


AFGHANISTAN: Taliban propaganda effective among Pashtoons

Immediately after the Taliban were removed from power in October 2001, 
the international aid community pledged to help rebuild Afghanistan. 
While over US$10 billion in aid money has reportedly been spent in the 
country since 2002, the Afghan government has been unable to establish a 
meaningful presence in large swaths of its territory.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73535


AFGHANISTAN: NGOs question new government directive on armed escorts

Afghanistan's Ministry of Interior has ordered Afghan security forces 
not to allow foreign aid workers to travel outside Kabul without an 
armed escort, a government official told IRIN. The directive has been 
issued as an extra security measure for international non-governmental 
organisation (NGO) staff after a number of foreign aid workers were 
abducted.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73550


NEPAL: Aid efforts stepped up as dozens killed in floods

Dozens of people have been killed and thousands displaced in the wake of 
floods and landslides in the Terai region of southeastern Nepal, the 
country's leading disaster relief agency said on 30 July. The Nepal Red 
Cross Society (NRCS) said the death toll could rise as rescue teams are 
still unable to recover the bodies of victims.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73486


NEPAL: Some 90 dead, 5,000 displaced as floods worsen in southwest

Sita Chaudhary and her family have been taking shelter from incessant 
rain for the last nine days in her makeshift shack with a plastic roof 
in Nepalgunj town, Banke District, in southwestern Nepal. Like hundreds 
of families, she was displaced after the floods - caused by the rapidly 
rising waters of the River Rapti - submerged her Ganespur village and 
completely destroyed her house.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73545


PAKISTAN: Insecurity threatens quake rehabilitation work

More than two weeks after the government's recent storming of the Red 
Mosque in Islamabad, tensions in Mansehra district, home to just over 
one million inhabitants and where many of the mosque students hail from, 
remain high - seriously slowing quake reconstruction efforts in several 
areas.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73488


PAKISTAN: NGOs criticise government over lack of tents in flood-affected 
Balochistan

Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Pakistan's flood-affected 
Balochistan Province have strongly criticised the government over the 
lack of adequate emergency shelter being provided to victims of cyclone 
Yemyin, over a month after the disaster.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73511


PAKISTAN: Shelter specialists call for further cooperation in flood 
areas

International shelter specialists in Pakistan's flood-affected south are 
looking forward to working more closely with the government and other 
partners to meet the needs of thousands of victims left homeless by 
cyclone Yemyin at the end of June.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73529


PAKISTAN: Anti-measles measures in flood-affected south

Extra precautions are being taken to mitigate the risk of a possible 
measles outbreak in flood-affected southern Pakistan. Although no 
outbreak of the disease has been reported so far, the additional 
measures are viewed as prudent in light of conditions on the ground.


SRI LANKA: Conflict disrupts ongoing demining effort

When a massive mine-clearing programme began in 2002, with the signing 
of the ceasefire agreement between the Sri Lankan government and the 
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), mine awareness was low, despite 
more than two decades of conflict and 1.5 million mines and other 
unexploded ordnance (UXOs) littering 10 districts in the northeast.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73542


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