http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0228/p04s02-woeu.html
By Fred Weir | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor
from the February 28, 2008 edition

Moscow - Strained by the coldest winter in 30 years, Tajikistan's Soviet-era infrastructure has buckled, leaving millions of its citizens without water and electricity. Aid groups have been quick to step in, but the mountainous Central Asian republic is facing a serious humanitarian crisis which could spark unrest in this volatile region, experts warn.

Russia, Kazakhstan, and US aid groups have responded to a $25 million appeal from the United Nations for emergency assistance last week, after water and sewage pipes burst - even in the capital city of Dushanbe, where temperatures reached minus 13 degrees F.

During the bitter cold snap that began in late January, rivers froze solid, virtually shutting down the giant Nurek hydroelectric station that is the only source of power for the isolated republic of 7 million. Emergency services were swamped.

About 260,000 Tajiks are in need of immediate food assistance, and up to 2 million face starvation by winter's end if they don't receive swift help, according to the UN. The country urgently needs supplies of portable generators, kerosene stoves, food, blankets and warm clothes.
...
The Tajik government says the country's industry is at a virtual standstill, while food production and distribution businesses are at less than half capacity due to power shortages and transportation paralysis.

Unexpectedly heavy snowfalls have blocked roads, cut access to remote mountain regions of the country, and raised concern about flash floods when the spring thaw begins.

Various US aid agencies have pledged about $2.5 million.

Tajikistan was the poorest republic in the former Soviet Union. Its infrastructure was largely destroyed during a bitter four-year civil war that ended in 1997 with the defeat of Islamist rebels based in next-door Afghanistan.

Even before the current crisis, according to UN figures, about two-thirds of Tajikistan's people subsisted on less than $2 per day, while 41 percent lacked regular access to clean drinking water.

Despite some improvements, experts say that under the increasingly authoritarian President Emomali Rakhmon - who was reelected to another seven-year term in 2006 with no serious opposition - little has been done to rebuild shattered infrastructure, especially in far-flung mountain communities, and that his administration is ill-equipped to deal with a social crisis.

"The Tajik president has concentrated power so narrowly that he's lost any idea of what's happening beyond the capital city," says Andrei Grozin, head of Central Asian studies at the official Institute of Commonwealth of Independent States in Moscow. "The authorities are simply not able to cope with the problems, which means they can keep growing till they reach a critical mass."

Experts warn that any popular unrest that breaks out in Tajikistan could have ripple effects throughout the volatile former Soviet Central Asian region, and possibly spread to the Tajik-populated regions of northern Afghanistan.

• Researcher Olga Podolskaya contributed to this report.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0228/p04s02-woeu.html
By Fred Weir | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor
from the February 28, 2008 edition

Moscow - Strained by the coldest winter in 30 years, Tajikistan's Soviet-era infrastructure has buckled, leaving millions of its citizens without water and electricity. Aid groups have been quick to step in, but the mountainous Central Asian republic is facing a serious humanitarian crisis which could spark unrest in this volatile region, experts warn.

Russia, Kazakhstan, and US aid groups have responded to a $25 million appeal from the United Nations for emergency assistance last week, after water and sewage pipes burst - even in the capital city of Dushanbe, where temperatures reached minus 13 degrees F.

During the bitter cold snap that began in late January, rivers froze solid, virtually shutting down the giant Nurek hydroelectric station that is the only source of power for the isolated republic of 7 million. Emergency services were swamped.

About 260,000 Tajiks are in need of immediate food assistance, and up to 2 million face starvation by winter's end if they don't receive swift help, according to the UN. The country urgently needs supplies of portable generators, kerosene stoves, food, blankets and warm clothes.
...
The Tajik government says the country's industry is at a virtual standstill, while food production and distribution businesses are at less than half capacity due to power shortages and transportation paralysis.

Unexpectedly heavy snowfalls have blocked roads, cut access to remote mountain regions of the country, and raised concern about flash floods when the spring thaw begins.

Various US aid agencies have pledged about $2.5 million.

Tajikistan was the poorest republic in the former Soviet Union. Its infrastructure was largely destroyed during a bitter four-year civil war that ended in 1997 with the defeat of Islamist rebels based in next-door Afghanistan.

Even before the current crisis, according to UN figures, about two-thirds of Tajikistan's people subsisted on less than $2 per day, while 41 percent lacked regular access to clean drinking water.

Despite some improvements, experts say that under the increasingly authoritarian President Emomali Rakhmon - who was reelected to another seven-year term in 2006 with no serious opposition - little has been done to rebuild shattered infrastructure, especially in far-flung mountain communities, and that his administration is ill-equipped to deal with a social crisis.

http://www.ecc-platform.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1312&Itemid=161
Source: WWF

22 Feb 2008 - Borders will matter less to central Africa's mountain gorillas, following the launch of a strategic conservation plan and an associated project which covers adjoining areas of Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
There are only about 720 gorillas left in the tropical mountain forests shared by the three countries, the Central Albertine Rift Area Network. The gorillas' natural habitat is threatened by the destruction of these forests and the great apes themselves are victims of poachers.

Protected area authorities of the three countries launched their 10-year Transboundary Strategic Plan for the Central Albertine Rift Protected Area Network on 20 February 2008 in Kampala.

The project is part of the 10-year strategic plan developed by the Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature (ICCN), the Office Rwandais du Tourisme et des Parcs Nationaux (ORTPN) and the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA), and is supported by the International Gorilla Conservation Programme (IGCP). IGCP is a coalition of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), African Wildlife Foundation (AWF), and Fauna & Flora International (FFI). The project secretariat is to be hosted by IGCP.

Also launched was a 4 million euro transboundary conservation project funded by the Dutch Government through the Royal Netherlands Embassy in Kigali Rwanda.

The new transboundary strategic plan aims to improve community livelihoods and contribute to the stability of the region. It will also assist in strengthening and making similar the three countries's policies and laws on the conservation and management of the protected areas.

"This is an exciting development", said Dr Susan Lieberman, Director of WWF International's Species Programme. "We applaud this tremendous contribution of the government and people of the Netherlands, which recognizes that species conservation and sustainable development and poverty alleviation go hand in hand."

Saving the endangered mountain gorillas of Africa will be a key component of the 4-year project.

Mountain gorillas are the main tourist attraction in Congo, Rwanda and Uganda, earning these countries about US$ 5 million every year, and are thus a critical element of livelihood programmes in the region for local communities.

WWF joins the chief executives of the three partner organizations (ICCN, ORTPN, and UWA) in calling for enhanced political support from their respective governments.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7267011.stm

Last Updated: Wednesday, 27 February 2008, 13:43 GMT

The water authority in the Gaza Strip has urged people to boil their drinking water to avoid the spread of disease.

The authority said Israel's blockade had delayed essential supplies, including chlorine, and there was now a risk of water being contaminated.

The authority said the situation could lead to a health disaster to Gaza's 1.5m inhabitants.

UN officials have asked Israel to lift the blockade. Israel says its actions are to counter militant rocket fire.

The Coastal Municipality Water Utility issued the warning in radio and newspaper advertisements, blaming Israel for the absence of equipment and chemicals for treating water.

It said there had been no deliveries of chlorine through the Israel-controlled goods crossing since 21 January.

Israel has tightened its blockade of the Gaza since the militant Hamas movement took control in June 2007.

Further restrictions on everything except humanitarian and medical supplies were imposed in recent weeks in response to continued rocket and mortar attacks on southern Israel.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=89357

Turkey stepped up its offensive against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq on Wednesday and refused to set a pull-out timetable, despite a US warning that the incursion should last no more than "a week or two." The military said 77 members of the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) were killed overnight in what they called the heaviest clashes since its forces rolled over the border into the snow-bound mountains of northern Iraq last week.

That brought the army toll of PKK dead to 230, while its own losses climbed to 27 with the deaths since Tuesday evening of five soldiers and three government-armed Turkish Kurd "village guard" militiamen, the general staff said.

As fighter-bombers continued to pound rebel positions on the sixth full day of the incursion, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates made it clear that US support for its NATO ally was not open-ended. The offensive must end quickly, he said.

...

The United States has backed the offensive, supplying Turkey with intelligence on PKK movements, and said the Turkish military had acted "responsibly so far."

But Washington is wary of the prospect of conflict between Turkish forces and the Kurdish administrators of northern Iraq - two key US allies with chilly ties.

Turkey has long accused the Iraqi Kurds of providing the PKK with a safe haven, weapons and ammunition. The military warned the Iraqi Kurds this week not to shelter PKK rebels fleeing the fighting.

...

"The Turkish danger is looming large. They are coming with their canons, guns and planes," said Juthiar Khalil, 25, of Qimary village along the border with Turkey as he sat with nine of his friends around a small stove in a grocery shop.

• AFP