DUBAI, 22 October 2007 (IRIN) - Contents:

IRAQ: Some families returning to Diyalah Province but lack supplies IRAQ: Iraqi Arabs seek refuge in Kurdish north IRAQ: Expired reagents blamed for erroneous Rift Valley Fever results IRAQ: Hundreds forced to scavenge for food in garbage bins IRAQ: Turkish offensive would lead to humanitarian crisis, ICRC warns ISRAEL-SYRIA: Separation of families "priority humanitarian issue" - ICRC official ISRAEL: Some African asylum-seekers lack food, decent accommodation ISRAEL-OPT: "Joyous occasion" as Palestinian villages connect to electricity grid JORDAN: More Palestinian refugees scheduled to leave for Brazil on 18 October JORDAN: Government to install pollution monitoring devices in big cities LEBANON: End illegal discrimination against Palestinians, says Amnesty OPT: Self-help Gazans still need outside world YEMEN: Land degradation threatening farmers, says senior official

IRAQ: Some families returning to Diyalah Province but lack supplies

Some families have started returning to Diyalah Province in eastern-central Iraq after US troops ended operations against al-Qaeda fighters there on 8 October. However, most residents lack basic essentials, including food.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74777

IRAQ: Iraqi Arabs seek refuge in Kurdish north

According to figures compiled by local officials in the three provinces that make up Iraqi Kurdistan, at least 12,500 Iraqi Arab families (about 75,000 individuals) have fled to the region. There they find themselves in what feels like a foreign country: Kurdistan has been autonomous since 1991 with Kurds running their own affairs. While Arabic is still an official language, it is all but eclipsed by Kurdish.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74780

IRAQ: Expired reagents blamed for erroneous Rift Valley Fever results

The reagents used for testing for Rift Valley Fever (RVF) in Nassiriyah, a town about 300km south of Baghdad, had expired, local authorities said on 14 October.

"Our specialists sent to double check for RVF among livestock in Nassiriyah found that the reagents used [in the initial tests] had expired and the retests done on samples sent to Baghdad showed negative results [for RVF]," Fayad Sulaiman, a senior official in the Ministry of Agriculture, said. "But we are still keeping a watch [on the situation]."

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74786

IRAQ: Hundreds forced to scavenge for food in garbage bins

Barira Mihran, a 36-year-old mother of three, scavenges every day in other people's dustbins in Baghdad for leftovers on which to feed her children. Widowed and displaced by sectarian violence, the unemployed mother said she had no other way of providing for her children.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74829

IRAQ: Turkish offensive would lead to humanitarian crisis, ICRC warns

A humanitarian crisis will accompany any large-scale Turkish military operations aimed at pursuing Turkish-Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) warned on 17 October.

"Any military conflict in the region will bring about a humanitarian crisis as civilians will be killed or displaced due to shelling and troop incursions," said northern Iraq ICRC spokesperson Flamerz Mohammed.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74842

ISRAEL-SYRIA: Separation of families "priority humanitarian issue" - ICRC official

Some 580 women living in the occupied Golan region are disconnected from their families in Syria as they are not allowed to cross from the occupied zone to their homeland, a new women's organisation has said.

"All the Arabs of the Golan have some family in Syria. But these women are disconnected from their mothers, fathers and brothers and sisters," said Souha Munder, a lawyer who works with the new group, which calls itself The Women of the Occupied Arab-Syrian Golan.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74778

ISRAEL: Some African asylum-seekers lack food, decent accommodation

The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) believes that some 3,000 African refugees live in Israel, including over 2,000 from Sudan. However, the state has not yet formulated a clear policy on their status or rights. A recent government decision said the country would absorb, on a one-time basis, 498 refugees from Darfur.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74795

ISRAEL-OPT: "Joyous occasion" as Palestinian villages connect to electricity grid

Renewed cooperation between Israel and the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank allowed for what both sides described as a "joyous occasion", when this small town of about 300 Palestinian residents was connected on 16 October to the main power grid.

"This is going to make life here much better," said Farouq Awad, a member of the local council. "I hope we can now have an industrial zone, open factories and create more jobs."

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74820

JORDAN: More Palestinian refugees scheduled to leave for Brazil on 18 October

Thirty-eight Palestinians refugees who have been living in Rweished camp near the Jordanian-Iraqi border are scheduled to fly to Brazil on 18 October for resettlement, putting an end to four years of uncertainty, an official from the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said on 16 October.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74828

JORDAN: Government to install pollution monitoring devices in big cities

Jordan's Ministry of Environment is to install Internet-linked sensors in industrial and densely populated areas to monitor fuel emissions as part of a campaign to stem rising pollution levels in the kingdom. The sensors will enable the Environment Ministry to get an up-to-the-minute picture of air pollution levels in given areas and take action - that is the plan.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74845

LEBANON: End illegal discrimination against Palestinians, says Amnesty

The Lebanese government's practices against Palestinian refugees continue to breach the country's obligations under international human rights law and should be repealed immediately, according to a report released here on 17 October by Amnesty International (AI).

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74831

OPT: Self-help Gazans still need outside world

The continuing power cuts in Gaza have made candles a basic necessity, but many residents can no longer afford them. Ahmed Asidawi, aged 42, has been mostly unemployed since the start of the Palestinian uprising in September 2000 and he is barred from entering Israel to seek work. He is a refugee registered with UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74781

YEMEN: Land degradation threatening farmers, says senior official

A senior Agriculture Ministry official has said he is worried about farmers' future livelihoods as agricultural land was at risk of degradation, but government funds were inadequate to tackle the problem and prevent creeping desertification.

Ali al-Dhameri, head of the Anti-Desertification Unit at the Forests and Desertification Control Department (FDCD) at the ministry, told IRIN that 95 percent of Yemen's agricultural land was at risk of deterioration, threatening the government's goal of improving food self-sufficiency.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74843

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