The New Nation - Internet Edition

UNB, Dhaka

Nine Bangladeshi military officers have helped conduct relief operations ashore in aid of the cyclone-stricken people while serving aboard US naval ship Kearsarge anchored off the coast of the Bay of Bengal.

Bangladeshi officers embarked the ship to serve as liaisons between Kearsarge, relief groups and relief-distribution centres, an American Centre release in Dhaka said Tuesday.

"The Bangladesh liaison officers have been instrumental in carrying out the relief effort over the past eight days," said Marine Capt. David Pope, a CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter pilot from the embarked Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron (HMM) 261. "They helped out tremendously by coordinating with Bangladeshi military forces on the ground to ensure the landing zones were clear."

The Kearsarge is currently operating in the Bay of Bengal as a sea-based logistical platform, delivering water and needed disaster relief supplies to the hardest-hit areas of Cyclone Sidr as determined by the government of Bangladesh.

"Having the U.S. Navy and Marines here (in Bangladesh) helps us feel very safe," Cmdr. Mohammad Fazle Rabbi of the Bangladeshi Navy was quoted as saying. "It (Kearsarge) has made relief efforts much easier because the ship has transported supplies to areas much more quickly." To date, Kearsarge and the 22nd MEU have delivered 12, 434 gallons of water and 162,052 lbs. of food, blankets, clothing and other emergency supplies.

"Being aboard Kearsarge helps strengthen our diplomatic relationship with the United States," said Rabbi.

Bangladeshi Army officers aboard the American warship included Maj. Asif Iqbal, Maj. Rezwan, Maj. Khaondaker Lokman Hakim, Maj. Mohammad Abdul Wajed, Maj. Mohammad Faisal Hasan Khan, and Capt. Sharif Ahammad Rayhanul Karim. Additionally, Navy Cmdr. Mohammad Fazle Rabbi, Air Force Squadron Leader Salauddin Md Alim Al Rabbi and Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. M Masud Alam are serving on board the ship. Kearsarge, the flagship of the Kearsarge Strike Group, and the embarked 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit are conducting disaster-relief efforts in response to Bangladesh government's request for assistance after tropical Cyclone Sidr struck the southern coast Nov. 15.

The storm has killed over 3,000 people and left several hundred thousand homeless. The Department of Defense effort is part of a larger United States response coordinated by the U.S. Department of State and U.S. Agency for International Development.

Staff Reporter

The George Harrison Fund for UNICEF yesterday announced a donation of $4,50,000 for relief and recovery efforts for the victims of Cyclone Sidr in Bangladesh.

George Harrison had a long association with Bangladesh and UNICEF. The landmark benefit concert held on August 1st 1971, which aside from George himself featured Ravi Shankar, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr, Leon Russell and Billy Preston, was the first of it's kind and is recognized as the inspiration behind more recent humanitarian fundraising ventures like 'Band Aid' and 'Live Aid'.

"I am pleased that the commitment that George and Ravi Shankar made to the crisis in Bangladesh more than three decades ago is once again reaching out to assist the victims of Cyclone Sidr. Children are at their most vulnerable during natural disasters and it is incumbent upon all of us to act fast to save as many lives as possible," said Olivia Harrison.

"With such a large number of children affected in Bangladesh, UNICEF is playing a key role in ensuring their survival in the coming weeks and months," said Caryl Stern, President and CEO of the US Fund for UNICEF. "This contribution keeps alive George Harrison's longstanding tradition of goodwill towards Bangladesh, but shows that children need our assistance, regardless of the borders they are born between."

In 2005, Mrs. Harrison launched the George Harrison Fund for UNICEF in her late husband's name with an initial donation of $1 million. It specifically targets UNICEF programs in Bangladesh but also provides lifesaving assistance to children suffering from civil conflict, natural disasters and poverty elsewhere.

Meanwhile, French oil company TOTAL, through its subsidiaries TOTAL E&P Bangladesh and TOTALGAS Bangladesh, has announced donation of US$100,000 to the Friendship organization for immediate humanitarian assistance for cyclone Sidr victims. This contribution will support the local relief efforts the organization is implementing in remote and inaccessible places of the affected area, said Olivier Wattez, Managing Director of TOTAL E&P Bangladesh. The donation will be mainly dedicated to water wells, ponds cleaning and house reconstruction works.

New Zealand Cricket is holding a Twenty20 festival in Hamilton two days before Christmas to raise funds for cyclone stricken Bangladesh, who were scheduled to start their tour on Boxing Day with the first of three one dayers.

An invitational Masters XI including past international players will play New Zealand Under-19 side before a New Zealand XI takes on the tourists..

The former Black Caps skipper Stephen Fleming will captain the New Zealand XI and says after playing in Bangladesh he has a better appreciation of how long it will take the low-lying country to get over the cyclone's impact.

Meanwhile, International Ministries, American Baptist Churches USA has provided a $10,000 disaster relief grant to help with relief and recovery in Bangladesh after Cyclone Sidr struck two weeks ago.

The grant, funded by One Great Hour of Sharing, was requested by Rev. Stan Murray, area director for Southeast Asia, and global consultant Walt White.

"We are very grateful for the relief funds being provided by several agencies, including American Baptist through their One Great Hour of Sharing," said White, who is the U.S. representative of Symbiosis. White, who had served jointly for International Ministries and the Australian Baptists in Bangladesh, helped start Symbiosis 12 years ago. The development agency focuses on integrated rural development, health, women and children, and vocational training.

Staff Reporter

Although the overall HIV prevalence is low, behaviour patterns and extensive risk factors that facilitate the rapid spread of the infection are widespread, making Bangladesh highly vulnerable to an HIV/AIDS epidemic.

The country's limited voluntary testing and counselling capacity and the stigma and fear of being identified and detected as HIV positive are main obstacles in the country.

Some 2.5 million new infection of HIV virus was recorded in 2007 globally. About 6,800 new infections occur daily, in which 1,200 are children and 90 per cent in the developing countries.

In central Bangladesh, among 93.4 per cent of over 500 injecting drug users, needle sharing is routine. These drug injectors are not an isolated population - they are often married and sometimes sell sex and blood.

Injecting drug use- UNDCP estimates that between 500,000 and one million people in Bangladesh are addicted to drugs.

Bangladesh is vulnerable because proximity to other countries with epidemics, large number of sexually active people, clandestine sex industries, high internal and external mobility, rapid urbanisation, common use of drugs, inadequate health services, poor use of condom and widespread of poverty.

This was disclosed at a workshop on 'Involvement of mass media in HIV/AIDS prevention activities' organised by Nari Maitree of Urban Primary Health Care Project-II (UPHCP) of Project Area 6 under Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) at Meghna Hall of BIAM in the city yesterday.

Col Dr Shawkot Ali, Chief Health Officer of DCC, Md Serajul Haider, Deputy Project Director of UPHCP-II, Abed Khan, Editor of daily Shamokal, Julious Otim, consultant from Uganda, Shaheen Akter Dolly, Executive Director of Nari Maitree, among others, spoke, while Masuda Begum, Project Manager of Nari Maitree, presented key-note paper on the occasion.

In Bangladesh, a large commercial sex industry with roughly 36,000 workers, each seeing an average of 18.8 clients per week for brothel-based sex workers and 44 clients per week for hotel-based workers, the key-note paper said.

Although there are only 14 well-established brothels, two of which were evicted from Narayanganj, all the residential hotels, ranging from high to low classes, in major cities are thriving on sex business, it said.

All river ports, seaports are well known for sex business. Just after evening all the parks in the Dhaka city are considered to be sex units for low class people, 1,70,000 including 8,000 to 10,000 hijras, of generally non-literate sex workers, it added.

Female sex workers have an average of two to five clients a day, making the number of clients about half a million men a day. It is suspected that large numbers of young and mostly single female textile and garment workers may also supplement their low wages by indulging in occasional prostitution, the report disclosed.

Some 60 per cent of long distance truck drivers have sex with commercial sex workers about twice a month without any knowledge of HIV/AIDS. Extra-marital sex appears to exist in rural societies and in particular where husbands are absent for a long period, it added.

Some 30 journalists from different media attended the workshop.

UNB, Dhaka

The Election Commission would decide on its own whether or not to enlist the stranded Pakistanis as voters if the Home Ministry does not take a decision shortly about the people caught in limbo since Bangladesh's independence in 1971.

Meanwhile, the EC would request the High Court to resolve the issue of holding dialogue with BNP by December 13, as the HC has put it on the hold amid squabbling between two factions of the immediate-past ruling party in the interim period.

"The decision on whether they (stranded Pakistanis) would be made voter or not has not been taken yet. The matter has been sent to the Home Ministry. They will apprise us about their decision on the issue soon. Otherwise, we will take a decision ourselves," Election Commissioner M Sohul Hussain told reporters this (Tuesday) afternoon.

He said enumerators would visit residences in the capital even at night to collect the particulars of service-holders left out during last week's door-to-door visit.

With collection of voters' particulars the EC started its initial voter-listing task in Dhaka City Corporation area on November 20 and voter-particular collections were to complete within 7-10 days.

But the enumerators couldn't knock at the doors of many homes yet. Moreover, voters were not found home during the enumerators' day visit and the DCC voter-listing programme became difficult.

In this perspective, Sohul said, the EC is thinking about recruiting more enumerators to collect voters' particulars at night.

"Most service-holders s ptay at home at night. So, we'll think whether more enumerators can be recruited to go door to door at night," he said.

"We won't appeal. We'll accept whatever the court will decide. But the winter vacation of court is to start from December 13. We'll request the court to resolve the matter by then," he said when asked what the EC would do about the stay order on EC letter inviting the Saifur-Hafiz faction of BNP to sit for electoral dialogue.

UNB, Dhaka

Awami League presidium member Abdur Razzak on Tuesday called for proper distribution of relief materials among the distress people in cyclone affected areas.

"Government has got lot of relief materials and donations from within and outside the country. Those should be properly distributed among the distress people," Razzak said.

He was addressing the party men when the Dhaka City unit handed over relief materials to the party's relief committee at the central office.

The AL leader demanded of the government to sanction fresh loans to the farmers and businessmen of the cyclone affected areas and waive all interest on their loans.

He also demanded immediate steps to rehabilitate the distress people in coastal belt and distribute agriculture inputs to the farmers.

Razzak said Awami League would continue relief operation "Our leader Sheikh Hasina is not present among us. It's our responsibility to continue the relief activities."

Thanking the party workers and supporters for the relief he said they had never done politics with people's miseries. They would serve the people.