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Tuesday 21 February 2006 |
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MIDDLE EAST: Weekly round-up Number 49 for 18-24 November 2005[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]CONTENTS: EGYPT: UNHCR office temporarily halts operations The Cairo office of the UN’s refugee agency, UNHCR, closed indefinitely on Sunday, bringing its operations relating to asylum applicants to a halt following a mass sit-in by Sudanese asylum seekers and refugees. Full report EGYPT: Violence reported in second phase of parliamentary elections Violence between candidates and their supporters dominated the second phase of Egyptian parliamentary elections, which ended on 20 November Full report EGYPT: Rights groups question antiterror campaign Human rights groups have questioned the way the Egyptian government is handling operations to capture suspected terrorists following a shootout on Sunday in the North Sinai governorate on Egypt's Mediterranean coastline. Full report IRAQ: Talafar families start to receive compensation for damaged property Thousands of families from the town of Talafar, some 80 km east of the northern city of Mosul, have begun to receive monetary damages for losses incurred during US-led military operations in September Full report IRAQ: Health ministry cracks down on black-market medicines The Iraqi Ministry of Health, in response to a reported rise in the sale of drugs on the black market, has launched a campaign to prevent the entry of illegal medicines into the country and halt the sale of expired pharmaceuticals Full report IRAQ: Political leaders hopeful about reconciliation With earlier tensions seemingly reduced, participants of a preparatory meeting in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, for an Iraqi reconciliation conference finally reached an agreement on Monday. Full report IRAQ: Locals report being forced into insurgency Mahmoud Kaduri, 29, recalled bitterly how he was forced to work with the insurgency currently fighting US and Iraqi government troops. “They told me to work with them or my son would be killed,? he recalled. Full report IRAQ: Concerns over fuel shortages as winter approaches A shortage of fuel in the capital, Baghdad, has left hundreds of Iraqis queuing for hours, with some forced to pay extortionate prices for the commodity on the black market. Full report LEBANON-SYRIA: Lebanese seek lost sons and daughters in Syria One day the Syrian secret service came to the factory where Koshaia used to work,? said Jozef Chehwane, displaying a photo of his cousin. Full report SYRIA: For many Kurds, statelessness remains a way of life When Gamal Mohammed Kassem, a 32-year old Kurdish farmer born and raised in the north eastern Syrian city of Hassake, needed to travel south to Hama city for surgery, he had to ask a Syrian friend to provide the authorities with a written promise he would return. Full report SYRIA: Palestinians from Iraq seek shelter in Syria A group of Palestinian refugees from Iraq have been allowed into Syria, settling in shelters at a UN refugee camp after having been stranded on the border for over a month, the UNHCR in Damascus confirmed on Sunday. Full report YEMEN: Despite progress, malaria remains a serious threat With 60 percent of Yemen's population at risk of malaria, the disease represents one of the biggest health challenges for the country's 19.7 million people. Full report [ENDS]
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