Religious freedom commission officials weigh rights, security concerns

By Jeffrey Thomas, Washington File Staff Writer

Washington - How the United States can do justice to its policy of promoting democracy and human rights without compromising its strategic military interests in Central Asia was the focus of a July 27 briefing in Washington titled "U.S. Strategic Dilemmas in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan."

The briefing was held jointly by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

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

ANKARA, 14 October (IRIN) - Dozens of refugees in Turkmenistan, mainly Afghans and Azeris, are set to be resettled in Canada in the near future, according to the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Ashgabat. The Canadian government has accepted 140 refugees for resettlement, including 25 families from Azerbaijan, 22 families from Afghanistan, 17 families from Iran and one stateless person. They are expected to leave for Canada in the near future.

TURKMENABAD, 29 May (IRIN) - As part of the United Nations' ongoing humanitarian commitment to millions of people inside Afghanistan, Turkmenabad - Turkmenistan's second-largest city - will continue to play a key role in relief efforts to the country.
"Turkmenabad is the most important hub for humanitarian assistance in Central Asia today and will remain so for quite some time," a logistics officer for the World Food Programme (WFP), Abdul Jabbar Bhatti told IRIN on Wednesday. Since 11 September, over 194,000 mt of food assistance had been dispatched to Afghanistan from

ISLAMABAD, 25 April (IRIN) - With repatriation gaining momentum in neighbouring Pakistan and Iran, Afghan refugees in Turkmenistan - estimated at 6,000 - are also going home. Largely overlooked given their limited numbers, these refugees are now returning at a rate of 50 per month.
"The vast majority of the persons currently returning to Afghanistan from Turkmenistan are doing so under the auspices of UNHCR [office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees]," the agency's country representative, Ruvendrini Menikdiwela,

MOSCOW, Oct 15 (AFP) - Russian Emergencies Minister Sergei Shoigu will discuss aid to Afghanistan at a meeting with his counterparts from the Commonwealth of Independent States (ex-Soviet republics minus the Baltics), Interfax reported Monday.

"Russia has launched a major programme of aid to the Afghan people," Shoigu's deputy Yury Vorobiyev told the news agency.

The Russian government has allocated nearly four million dollars for the purchase and delivery of aid via Tajikistan, and has already dispatched almost 80 tonnes of food, 320 tents and 10 tonnes

By Marat Gurt

ASHGABAT, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Fresh tremors rocked Turkmenistan on Thursday, a day after the Central Asian state was hit by a powerful earthquake but officials said it caused no casualties or significant damage.

A spokesman for Turkmenistan's national civil defence unit told Reuters that mild tremors had been recorded at 0353 GMT in the oil producing towns of Balkanabad and Kazanzhik, 500 km (310 miles) west of the capital Ashgabat.

The jolts came after most people in Balkanabad (formerly Nebit Dag), which produces 80 percent of Turkmenistan's oil,