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IRIN Asia | Central Asia | ASIA: IRIN-Asia Weekly Round-up 14 covering the period 2 - 8 April 2005 | Other | Weekly

Thursday 28 April 2005


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IRIN-Asia Weekly Round-up 14 covering the period 2 - 8 April 2005

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

CONTENTS:

AFGHANISTAN: Country facing health disaster worse than the tsunami - minister
AFGHANISTAN: Reduced flood risk - UN
AFGHANISTAN: Donor meeting reaffirms international commitment
PAKISTAN: Focus on kidney sales by bonded labourers
PAKISTAN: Winter rains alleviate drought conditions
UZBEKISTAN: Government takes democracy NGO to court
KYRGYZSTAN: New programme to get teachers to rural areas
KYRGYZSTAN: Power struggle intensifies following Akayev's resignation
NEPAL: Interview with Susan Ulbaek, Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs
NEPAL: Maoist blockade hits vulnerable rural communities
CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap

AFGHANISTAN: Country facing health disaster worse than the tsunami - minister

As Afghanistan marked World Health Day on Thursday, the country's health minister, Dr Sayed Mohammad Amin Fatimi, said it was facing a disaster worse than the tsunami that hit Indian Ocean nations late in 2004 and killed more than 300,000 people. "We are currently being faced with a silent emergency which is heartbreaking and a big tragedy, it is worse than the tsunami disaster," Fatimi told IRIN in the capital Kabul. The minister estimates that around 700 children under the age of five die every day in Afghanistan due to preventable diseases and one women dies every 20 minutes due to complications in pregnancy and childbirth.

Full report

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AFGHANISTAN: Reduced flood risk - UN

After serious flooding in southern Afghanistan in March, humanitarian workers in Kabul have told IRIN the worst is now over. "Most of the snow melt which we anticipated would cause flooding has now gone so the emergency that we thought might happen is less probable," John Odea of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) told IRIN on Thursday. After a very cold winter that killed hundreds of people unprepared for the severe weather, Afghanistan faced two serious floods last month, affecting thousands of people in the southern provinces of Ghazni, Oruzgan, Nimruz and Kandahar.

Full report

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AFGHANISTAN: Donor meeting reaffirms international commitment

A key meeting between the Afghan government and international donors ended on Wednesday with renewed commitment from wealthy nations to reconstruction and Kabul calling for more attention on what it called "neglected infrastructure building." Donor countries that have contributed billions of dollars in humanitarian and development aid to the country in the post-Taliban period, got the chance to talk directly to authorities about progress in reconstruction at the third Afghanistan Development Forum (ADF).

Full report

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PAKISTAN: Focus on kidney sales by bonded labourers

Today, Idrees, 27, is a free man, after nearly 10 years in bondage at a brick-kiln near Sheikhupura, some 100 km north of the eastern Pakistani border city of Lahore. He won his freedom by selling his left kidney. With the Rs 90,000 (US $1,500) he got, he was able to pay off a debt of around Rs 60,000 ($1,000) he and his elderly parents owed to the kiln owner. The debt had accumulated over nearly 15 years. But after paying off the amount, he had little left over, and less than six months after undergoing surgery at a private clinic to remove his kidney, he is once more in debt, having borrowed Rs 5,000 ($840) from a cousin a few days ago.

Full report

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PAKISTAN: Winter rains alleviate drought conditions

Higher than average winter rainfall has pulled Pakistan out of drought conditions which had plagued the country for seven years. The drought caused a water shortage of up to 50 percent last year, according to the country's leading water authority. "The water supply is satisfactory now. We have enough water for summer cultivation. Besides, we will be able to carry some over in our reservoirs for the coming winter's agricultural requirements," Muhammad Khalid Idrees Rana, a research officer at the Indus River System Authority (IRSA), told IRIN in the capital Islamabad, on Monday. The seven-year long water crisis had also been exacerbated by a range of other issues related to policy and management of available water, according to water experts.

Full report

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UZBEKISTAN: Government takes democracy NGO to court

Uzbek authorities have started criminal proceedings against the Tashkent office of Internews - an international media support NGO - the prosecutor general's office said on Tuesday. The announcement came as government stepped up scrutiny of foreign and local NGOs promoting democracy in the country in the wake of the fall of the government in neighbouring Kyrgyzstan. Tashkent is charging the US-based NGO, under Article 20 of the Uzbek criminal code, with operating without a licence, an official for the prosecution said. "Investigations are under way, but at this stage nobody has been arrested," Svetlana Artikova, spokeswoman of the general prosecutor's office, told IRIN, adding that people and witnesses related to the case were being questioned.

Full report

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KYRGYZSTAN: New programme to get teachers to rural areas

Mairam Kurmanalieva, 21, is a final-year university student in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek. The industrious teacher-to-be, originally from the eastern Issyk-Kul province, studies biology at the Kyrgyz National State University (KNSU) and is expected to graduate this summer, but she is not optimistic about returning to her native Tamchi village on the northern shore of lake Issy-Kul and teaching children there. "After getting my diploma, I have to go back to my village and teach children there. But I don't want to leave Bishkek. I am planning to stay here and find a job in the capital," Mairam told IRIN.

Full report

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KYRGYZSTAN: Power struggle intensifies following Akayev's resignation

Deposed Kyrgyz president, Askar Akayev, signed his resignation on Monday, marking the end of an era and a step toward restoring political order in the Central Asian republic less than two weeks after he was forced out of office. The official resignation ceremony was held in the office of the Kyrgyz Embassy in the Russian capital Moscow. A speech by the former leader, addressing the Kyrgyz nation, was expected to be aired on Kyrgyz national television on Wednesday.

Full report

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NEPAL: Interview with Susan Ulbaek, Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Susan Ulbaek, head of the Asia Department at the Royal Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was in the Nepali capital Kathmandu this week on a two-day official visit. She expressed concern about the deteriorating human rights situation in the Himalayan kingdom. Denmark spent US $40 million on development projects in the health, education, energy and human rights sectors in 2004. Ulbaek spoke to IRIN about the significance of the visit and the future of Danish aid to Nepal.

Full report

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NEPAL: Maoist blockade hits vulnerable rural communities

Rights activists, international aid workers and local NGO staff in Nepal are seriously concerned over the humanitarian consequences of a nationwide transport strike organised by Maoist rebels to block routes to the capital Kathmandu and other major cities. The strike began on 2 April and is set to last for 11 days. "Some three weeks ago, the UN and bilateral donors expressed their concern that blockades restricted and stopped humanitarian and development activities. Children are especially threatened as essential medical supplies such as vaccines and vitamins may not reach them in time and schooling is interrupted," UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Nepal, Matthew Kahane, told IRIN on Tuesday.

Full report

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CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap

Political stalemate continued this week in Kyrgyzstan, a Central Asian country where opposition-led protesters ousted president Askar Akayev's regime on 24 March. Although Akayev signed his resignation and submitted it to a group of Kyrgyz parliamentarians at the Kyrgyz embassy in Moscow on Monday, the Kyrgyz parliament failed to accept his resignation this week due to disputes regarding the terms of the agreement. According to the document, the deposed leader retains all the privileges and guarantees laid down under Kyrgyz law - including immunity from prosecution for himself and members of his family. Some legislators claimed that if they were to accept the resignation under the current terms it could spark unrest in the country given that anti-Akayev sentiments are still strong in the former Soviet republic.

Full report

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[ENDS]

Other recent ASIA reports:

Weekly news wrap, 22/Apr/05

IRIN-Asia Weekly Round-up 16 covering the period 16 - 22 April 2005, 22/Apr/05

Weekly news wrap, 15/Apr/05

IRIN-Asia Weekly Round-up 15 covering the period 9 - 15 April 2005, 15/Apr/05

Weekly news wrap, 8/Apr/05

Other recent reports:

NEPAL: Humanitarian re-orientation needed, says UN official, 25/Apr/05

CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap, 22/Apr/05

CENTRAL ASIA: IRIN-Asia Weekly Round-up 16 covering the period 16 - 22 April 2005, 22/Apr/05

CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap, 15/Apr/05

ASIA: IRIN-Asia Weekly Round-up 15 covering the period 9 - 15 April 2005, 15/Apr/05

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