YEMEN: Measles vaccination campaign launched to prevent childrens deaths, 21/Feb/06
SANA, 21 February (IRIN) - A massive vaccination drive against measles began this week in an effort to stamp out a disease that kills between 5,000 and 10,000 Yemeni children ever year. For the first time in the country, the campaign is targeting children over 18 months old as... Full Report... Email Report

YEMEN: Two killed in flash floods, 21/Feb/06
SANA, 21 February (IRIN) - Two people were killed and a number of houses destroyed in flash floods that hit the village of Maabar, in the southwestern Thamar governorate, on the night of 20 February.... Full Report... Email Report

SUDAN: Millions in need of food aid despite improved harvest, 20/Feb/06
NAIROBI, 20 February (IRIN) - Nearly seven million people in Sudan will need food aid in 2006 despite a reasonably good harvest of the 2005-2006 crop, United Nations agencies have reported. ... Full Report... Email Report

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: Donor conference begins in Cameroon, 20/Feb/06
NAIROBI, 20 February (IRIN) - A donor conference for the Central African Republic began on Monday in the Cameroonian capital, Yaounde, organised by the United Nations.... Full Report... Email Report

SOUTH AFRICA: Bird flu ruffles few feathers among street traders, 20/Feb/06
JOHANNESBURG, 20 February (IRIN) - The man shrugged his shoulders and stared blankly at the Society for Protection against Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) officer when asked if he had ever heard of bird flu. Beside him, row upon row of chickens, pigeons and guinea fowl languished in filthy,... Full Report... Email Report

IRAQ: New suspected bird flu infection cases being tested in Iraq, 19/Feb/06
BAGHDAD, 19 February (IRIN) - The Ministry of Health has said it is testing 13 new suspected human cases of the H5N1 virus, known as bird flu, in the southern governorate of Missan and 12 in Sulaimaniyah in northern Iraq.... Full Report... Email Report

EGYPT: Government appeals for calm after appearance of bird flu among poultry, 19/Feb/06
CAIRO, 19 February (IRIN) - The government appealed for calm after poultry infected with the H5N1 virus, known as bird flu, were detected in three different Egyptian governorates, including the capital, Cairo. There is no immediate danger, said a source at the Ministry of... Full Report... Email Report

DRC: Ruling partys election strategy in Katanga is raising ethnic tension, 17/Feb/06
LUBUMBASHI, 17 February (IRIN) - Human rights groups warn that ethnic tension is rising in Katanga province in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), in part because the ruling party of President Joseph Kabila is attempting to take control of politically and economically important... Full Report... Email Report

MIDDLE EAST: MIDDLE EAST: Weekly round-up Number 61 for 10 - 16 February 2006, 16/Feb/06
DUBAI, 16 February (IRIN) - ... Full Report... Email Report

PAKISTAN: Roots of the Balochistan conflict run deep, 16/Feb/06
QUETTA, 16 February (IRIN) - For two years, Faqir Hussain, 26, has been searching for a job. He goes about the task methodically from his tiny flat in the southern Pakistani city of Quetta, cutting out notices that appear each week in the Sunday newspapers and maintaining a... Full Report... Email Report

SOMALIA: Hundreds of thousands affected by water shortages - Oxfam, 16/Feb/06
NAIROBI, 16 February (IRIN) - Hundreds of thousands of people in drought-hit areas of Somalia are facing dehydration, with some having to drink their own urine as chronic water shortages persist, aid agency Oxfam International said on Thursday. ... Full Report... Email Report

IRAQ: Insurgency little understood by coalition forces, says think-tank, 16/Feb/06
DUBAI, 16 February (IRIN) - The Iraqi insurgency, which is increasingly organised and coordinated, is little understood by those trying to fight it, according to the Brussels-based think-tank, International Crisis Group (ICG).... Full Report... Email Report

CENTRAL ASIA: Ferghana environment meeting wraps up, 16/Feb/06
BISHKEK, 16 February (IRIN) - A meeting of environmental experts has wrapped up in the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, as part of a regional project on environmental safety and emergency preparedness in Ferghana Valley. ... Full Report... Email Report

YEMEN: UNHCR warns of danger of illicit sea passage from Horn of Africa, 15/Feb/06
DUBAI, 15 February (IRIN) - The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, has warned would-be migrants from the Horn of Africa against making the sea passage to Yemen by way of illegal smugglers.... Full Report... Email Report

GREAT LAKES: Health experts plan ways of countering epidemics, 15/Feb/06
BUJUMBURA, 15 February (IRIN) - Medical experts from Africa's Great Lakes region are meeting in the Burundian capital, Bujumbura, to plan ways of countering epidemics in the region.... Full Report... Email Report

TURKMENISTAN: Interview with United Nations Resident Representative, 15/Feb/06
ASHGABAT, 15 February (IRIN) - Richard Young is the United Nations' new Resident Representative in Turkmenistan. In an interview with IRIN in the capital, Ashgabat he spoke about the need to formulate an emergency preparedness plan for the earthquake-prone republic and about new... Full Report... Email Report

NIGERIA: International experts deploy to help check bird flu spread, 15/Feb/06
KANO, 15 February (IRIN) - International health experts have deployed in northern Nigeria, where suspicious poultry deaths have been reported in eight northern states, with three states confirming cases of the deadly H5N1 virus. ... Full Report... Email Report

COTE D IVOIRE: Interview: UN humanitarian official, Jan Egeland, 15/Feb/06
ABIDJAN, 15 February (IRIN) - The UNs top humanitarian official, Jan Egeland, is visiting war-torn Cote dIvoire following violent protests last month that targeted UN facilities. In an interview with IRIN, Egeland warns that violence against humanitarian workers must end and... Full Report... Email Report

EGYPT: Remaining Sudanese protestors freed, 13/Feb/06
CAIRO, 13 February (IRIN) - The last group of Sudanese detainees, held by the Egyptian authorities since the violent break-up of a sit-in demonstration in December, has been released.... Full Report... Email Report

DRC: The peculiar terror that is northern Katanga, 13/Feb/06
NYONGA, KATANGA, 13 February (IRIN) - A remote wilderness of shallow lakes, marshes and quagmires near the source of the Congo River has become Katanga's newest battleground, as some 4,000 troops from the post-war army of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) - many with little or no... Full Report... Email Report