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2008-05-25

Aid agencies call on Myanmar to act on pledge

Foreign aid agencies yesterday called on Myanmar's junta to urgently clarify the rules for operating in the country's cyclone-devastated areas, expressing hope tinged with scepticism after the regime promised to open its doors to the international community.
Myanmar's ruling generals offered no elaboration after UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced Friday that the junta had agreed to allow "all aid workers" into the country. The concession came after three weeks of blocking relief for cyclone survivors and on the eve of an international donors conference Sunday in Myanmar.
"I want to be optimistic, but I'm sceptical," Lionel Rosenblatt, president emeritus of US-based Refugees International said, voicing comments echoed by relief agencies worldwide. "My overall impression is scepticism and what this actually means. The devil is going to be in the implementation."
The United Nations opened a relief staging post at an airport in the Thai capital on Saturday to help speed up the cyclone aid effort in neighbouring Myanmar.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was on hand to open the hub just a day after talks with Myanmar's junta leader Than Shwe, which he said led to an agreement to let foreign aid workers into the country.
The possible breakthrough distracted attention from the junta's widely criticised decision to push ahead Saturday with a constitutional referendum in Yangon, Myanmar's largest city, and hard-hit delta areas.
Critics say the proposed charter is designed to strengthen the military's grip on power and they had urged the government to focus on relief efforts.
Saturday's voting was a pointless exercise. The rest of the country voted May 10, and state radio has said the delayed balloting could not reverse the constitution's reported approval by 92.4 percent of the 22 million eligible voters.
Detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi cast her ballot on Friday evening when referendum officials visit

2008-03-18

Govt completes negotiations on $35m IDA credit

The government has completed negotiations for an IDA credit of $35 million to increase the use of social and rehabilitation services by persons with disabilities, vulnerable children and adolescents. The two-day negotiations with the World Bank for the interest-free credit concluded on Wednesday, said a statement Thursday. The proposed Disability and Children-at-Risk Project (DCRP) aims to improve health, education and employment opportunities for persons with disabilities, including raising public awareness for their empowerment.

2008-02-13

Uneasy calm on East Timor streets

An uneasy calm is reported on the streets of the East Timor capital, Dili, a day after President Jose Ramos-Horta was shot by rebel soldiers. Patrols by police and international troops were stepped up after acting leader Vicente Gutterres formalised a two-day state of emergency. Mr Ramos-Horta remains in a serious but stable condition. World leaders condemned the attack, described by East Timor leaders as an attempted coup. The rebels also targeted Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao but he was not injured. The apparently coordinated attacks have raised fears of renewed violence in East Timor, which saw widespread unrest and street battles in mid-2006. `Extraordinary situation` Speaking in a televised address, Mr Gutterres announced the special measures. "Our country is right now in an extraordinary situation where a state of emergency will bring us back to normality," he said. "I ask for your help." The 48-hour emergency order bans all public gatherings and meetings. Residents must remain at home between the hours of 2000 and 0600. Extra Australian troops have begun arriving in East Timor to reinforce peacekeepers and help boost security. An Australian warship is also in place off the coast of East Timor. The BBC's Jonathan Head in Dili says the streets of the capital are empty of civilians after curfew. Peacekeepers and police are out in force on the city streets and an uneasy calm prevails, he says. "I am going back home early because I'm afraid of gang fighting or protests," student Antonio Gomes told Reuters news agency. Emergency surgery In the hospital in Darwin, Australia, where Mr Ramos-Horta was taken after the shooting, doctors said he would need further surgery, but said they were hopeful for a full recovery. Dr Len Notaras said three surgeons had operated on Mr Ramos-Horta for more than two hours on Monday night, dressing wounds and removing shrapnel. "After losing such a huge amount of blood in the shooting... he's very fortunate to have survi

2008-02-13

Pakistani ambassador in Kabul kidnapped

Pakistani ambassador in Kabul kidnapped Pakistan's ambassador to Afghanistan has gone missing before he was due to cross into Afghanistan from Pakistan. Sources have told that the ambassador, Tariq Azizuddin, was kidnapped in the Khyber tribal agency close to the Afghan border. The Pakistani embassy in Kabul says contact was lost with Mr Azizuddin at around 1045 local time (0645 GMT). Many areas in the border regions between Afghanistan and Pakistan are strongholds of pro-Taleban militants. Mr Azizuddin was going to Kabul from Peshawar by road when he disappeared. Police in Pakistan's Khyber Agency said they believed that Mr Azizuddin had been kidnapped. There were reports on Pakistani television of his car going through a checkpoint without stopping. Hundreds of people have been kidnapped in the dangerous border region in recent years - four Pakistani Red Cross workers went missing in the same area a few days ago. An official of the Khyber agency tribal administration told that the ambassador went through the Khyber agency without taking a security escort that was waiting for him at the start of the tribal territory. Correspondents say that such escorts are routinely sent with dignitaries and officials when they travel through tribal areas. But some travellers dispense with them because they think it makes their movements more noticeable. Mr Azizuddin is said to have previously travelled to Kabul by road, often without the tribal security escort. The route through the agency is believed to be the shortest and quickest way between Peshawar, the Pakistani border city in North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and Kabul. Being the main trade route, the Khyber agency road is busy in daylight hours, and is a major route supplying reinforcements and supplies to the US and Nato forces in Afghanistan. It is also one of the most protected of all the tribal roads, with a contingent of tribal police posted every 100m. The paramilitary Frontier Corps have

2008-02-21

Border violence mars Kosovo's new start

U.N. police pulled out of a Kosovan border post that was destroyed on Tuesday by Serbs who vow never to submit to the authority of Kosovo's Albanian government and its Western backers. Danish troops of the NATO-led KFOR peacekeeping force later moved up to secure the border with Serbia proper, KFOR said. It did not say if they were controlling entry to Kosovo. Kosovan Prime Minister Hashim Thaci played down the attacks on two border posts in the north, one of which was burned out. ''Everything is under the control of the NATO authorities, Kosovo police and the United Nations, and no isolated incident will undermine Kosovo's independence celebrations,'' he told a news conference with EU foreign affairs chief Javier Solana. ''Kosovo is integral, inseparable and Kosovo territory is guaranteed and recognized internationally,'' said Thaci, who declared the southern Serbian province independent on Sunday despite Serbia's adamant opposition. Reuters witnesses saw U.N. police destroy official documents and remove computers from the half-wrecked border post, then leave in a convoy of vehicles escorted by armored cars. The crossing known as Gate 3-1, north of Zubin Potok town, was abandoned. Cars wit no number plates were passing unimpeded. A U.N. source who checked later said he saw only one jeep with two Estonian soldiers on the actual border. Asked if the European Union would be ready to call on NATO to enforce the authority of its planned post-independence law-enforcement mission in Kosovo, including the northern Serb stronghold, Solana said the 2,000-man mission was not there yet. ''Don't ask for the mission to do something today they are not in a position to do,'' he said. ''I would like to say that it will be deployed in the territory of Kosovo, in all of Kosovo.'' ''KFOR is here and KFOR has used its responsibility, its obligations, already today,'' Solana added. The NATO-led, 35-nation force of 17,000 troops has French, Belgian, U.S. and Dan

2008-02-21

US urges Pakistan's victorious parties to work together

The United States Tuesday urged the victorious political parties in Pakistan's parliamentary elections to work closely together to fight terrorism. US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the United States will also continue its relationship with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, whose party suffered a resounding defeat in Monday's balloting. 'What we will urge is that those moderate forces within Pakistani politics who now have a seat at the table, so to speak ... should band together, should work together for a few goals that are in the interest of Pakistan,' McCormack said. Those goals should include moving forward with economic and democratic reforms and fighting against violent extremists and terrorists on Pakistani soil, McCormack said. Musharraf has been one of Washington's most important allies in the war on terrorism, but his crackdown on opposition groups, the media and democratic institutions have generated protests across the country. Musharraf's Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) finished a distance third place in the election, capturing only 38 of the 272 contested seats in the National Assembly. The Pakistani People's Party (PPP), the party of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated December 27, was the biggest victor, winning 255 seats. McCormack expressed confidence the PPP is committed to fighting terrorism. 'That party, more so than any other political party in Pakistan right now, feels acutely the threat from violent extremists and terrorism, having had their party leader recently assassinated,' he said.

2008-02-21

Chinese ship sinks with 28 on board

A Chinese fishing ship sank with 28 Chinese fishermen on board late on Sunday in South China Sea off the northwest coast of Philippine. The Philippine coastguard is searching for the fishermen. A Philipino coastguard ship with a medical team and rescue swimmers was dispatched on Sunday night after receiving a report from Chinese authorities that the Jinshan had sunk with 28 crew members on board. The fishing boat had passed a lighthouse at Cape Bojeador in Ilocos Norte province when it developed problems and sank late on Sunday, coast guard spokesman Lieutenant-Commander Armand Balilo said. He said the Philippines received a request for assistance from the China Maritime Rescue Coordinating Centre and sent a search vessel 110km north of Cape Bojeador into the South China Sea to look for the missing crewmen.

2008-02-21

Taliban denies involvement in dogfight blast

The Taliban has denied any responsibility for Sunday's deadly bombing at a dog fighting competition in Afghanistan's southern city of Kandahar that killed about 80 people and left many more wounded, an attack seen as deadliest since the fall of Taliban in 2001. Afghan officials had earlier pointed the finger at the group. Assadullah Khalid, Kandahar's provincial governor said, ''This suicide attack was the work of the Taliban, the enemies of Afghanistan,'' While the Taliban was in government, dog fighting was considered un-Islamic and severely punished. It has become immensely popular since the Taliban was driven out of Kabul. On Monday, thousands turned up to bury friends and relatives who died in the blast. Sources said that the Taliban was denying any role in the blast.

2008-02-21

Santu Larma pushes govt to implement CHT peace accord

CHT Regional Council chairman Jyotirindra Bodhipriya Larma (Santu Larma) Tuesday urged the caretaker government to take initiatives for implementing the CHT peace accord, saying that the previous governments failed to fulfill the major commitments of the accord signed in 1997. ''From our side, we have fulfilled all the conditions and commitments in time. It is very sad that most of the major articles and commitments have not been fulfilled by the government,'' he said at a discussion at a city hotel in the morning. The European Commission, UNDP and Bangladesh Indigenous Peoples Forum jointly organized the daylong discussion titled 'Towards a Better Understanding of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples'. Head of the European Commission Delegation to Bangladesh Dr Stefan Frowein, UN resident coordinator Renata Lok-Dessalien, EC Delegation's Charles Whiteley and Fabrizio Senesi, former adviser to the caretaker government Adv Sultana Kamal, Barrister Sara Hossain, Prof. HK Arefeen of Dhaka University and Sanjeeb Drong of Bangladesh Indigenous Peoples Forum also spoke at the meeting. Santu Larma said indigenous people in the country are vulnerable and at risk facing many problems, as the constitution of Bangladesh did not recognize their identity and rights. ''Most of them are living on their traditional lands, but the government claims that those are government lands.'' ''Without land, indigenous people cannot exist. There is no adequate policy to protect the lands of indigenous peoples,'' he said adding that the traditional land rights of indigenous peoples are being ignored and the forests where they live are disappearing. Larma said in Bangladesh, there are more than 45 distinct indigenous communities who have been living in the country for centuries and their number is approximately three million. Recalling the role of the indigenous peoples during the liberation war in 1971, he said many of them took part in the liberation war and scarified their liv

2008-04-19

17 killed as bus overturns in Tangail

At least 17 people were killed and 40 others injured as a passenger-packed bus overturned in Kalihati upazila of Tangail Saturday morning. Police and witnesses said the Dhaka-bound bus from Kurigram, carrying over 50 passengers, toppled down on a roadside rail track at Hatia area near east end of Jamuna Bridge at about 5:45am as its driver lost control over the steering due to mad speed. Sixteen passengers of the bus died on the spot while around 40 others injured in the fatal accident. The injured were rushed to Tangail General Hospital, where another succumbed there to his injuries. Identities of the deceased could not be known immediately. All the victims are day labourers and of them 36 hailed from Nageshwari upazila of Kurigram. Survivors alleged that the fatal accident took place as the driver was drowsing while driving. Earlier on Wednesday, 17 people were killed and 19 others injured as a train ploughed through a passenger-packed bus at Rajabari railway crossing in Kalihati upazila in the district.

2008-04-19

Saudi assistance to built 21,200 houses in four Sidr-hit districts

Work for constructing 21,200 houses in four Sidr-affected districts in the country's southern region will start soon with the financial assistance of Saudi Government worth Tk 1.3 billion (130.37 crore). Relief and Rehabilitation Department has taken up the project for Pirojpur, Borguna, Potuakhali and Bagerhat districts. A total of Tk 61,458 will be spent for the construction materials of each house, to be constructed on 150 square-feet area, from the Saudi assistance. The houses will be constructed in Sadar and Patharghata upazilas of Borguna, Golachipa, Kolapara, Mirzaganj, Baufal, Dashmina, Dumki and Sadar upazilas of Potuakhali, Mothbaria, Bhandaria and Zianagar upazilas of Pirojpur and Shoronkhola Upazila of Bagerhat. The small-scale houses will be constructed according to the design of the committee, led by Superintending Engineer of National Housing Authority AKM Abdullah. Deputy Commissioners of the four districts have already received letters from the authority concerned in this regard. Construction materials for the housing will reach the respective upazilas soon, for which, US$ 30.31 million will be spent from $ 100 million assistance that earlier declared by the Saudi government. Bangladesh Government has already sent money to the Deputy Commissioners for giving Tk 10,000 to each of the family as transport cost for shifting to their newly-constructed house from the upazila Sadars and as labour charge for earth digging. Director of Food and Disaster Ministry GM Mansur Rahman said that the materials would reach to the respective places within a week. The government hoped that it would be able to complete the construction work before the rainy season, he added. Committees have been formed in the upazila-level to supervise the construction work in a bid to implement the project timely.

2010-06-27

Karzai cautions about

Afghanistan’s stunning untapped mineral wealth could prove to be a curse rather than a blessing for the war-ravaged country if it is not managed properly, the nation’s president said on Saturday.
   Afghan government officials recently said the country’s mineral deposits could be worth up to three trillion dollars, tripling an earlier US estimate.
   ‘If our country does not have a very solid government foundation and if we do not set up strong regulations for exploration of minerals, 10 years from now these very same rich underground resources could become disastrous for us,’ the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, said.
   He told a gathering of hundreds of people that Afghans should to be cautious of plots to weaken the government to extract Afghanistan’s huge reserves of lithium, iron, copper, gold, niobium, mercury, cobalt and other minerals.
   ‘These companies do not come here for our interests — they are after their own interests even if it’s at the cost of weakening the government, the people and feeding and strengthening corruption so they can easily exploit,’ he said.
   Karzai went on to say that Iran in the 1950s and several African countries were examples of countries that were destabilised so that their rich natural resources could be exploited by foreign companies.
   Afghanistan already has a reputation as one of the most corrupt countries in the world.
   The former minister of mines was dropped from the cabinet in February after being accused of accepting a 30 million dollar in bribe in return for awarding a Chinese company the country’s biggest copper mine contract.
   The mineral wealth of Afghanistan has remaine