ASIA: IRIN-ASIA Weekly round-up 134 for 23 - 29 July 2007
DUBAI, 30 July 2007 (IRIN) - 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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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