Bruce Pannier is a Central Asia analyst and appears regularly on the Majlis podcast for RFE/RL.
Drugs continue to be a scourge in the region (AFP) The UN and OSCE wrapped up a two-day conference in Tajikistan today with participants saying the talks were focused on regional efforts to combat terrorism, drugs trafficking, and organized crime. The conference was also attended by officials from the Central Asian countries as well as Russia, Afghanistan, and NATO.
After an attempt to take control of Kyrgyzstan’s independent Pyramid TV by new owners who want to make changes, the station's employees are demanding an investigation.
Each year, President Saparmurat Niyazov takes great pride in announcing that the country has reached another record grain harvest. This year, Niyazov’s own officials appear to have deceived him.
There is international backing for the OSCE honor to go to Kazakhstan, but the country's December presidential election remains a potential stumbling block.
Protesters in Bishkek on 25 October (RFE/RL) Kyrgyzstan’s parliament met today to discuss what appears to be mounting chaos in the country. The deputies’ session follows prison riots in mid-October that led to the death of a lawmaker under mysterious circumstances. The incident sparked protests in Bishkek and Osh, with demonstrators calling for the resignation of the country’s prime minister, whom they have blamed for the death.
Condoleezza Rice in Bishkek on 11 October U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice finished her tour of Central Asia yesterday. The United States continues to maintain economic and military interests in Central Asia, but Rice's visit came amid waning U.S. fortunes in some of the region. She kept criticism of governments to a minimum, angering some opposition figures who hoped the high-ranking U.S. official would help highlight their difficulties to the international community.
Prosecutors in this month's trial against alleged organizers of the mid-May violence International pressure is mounting on officials in Tashkent over their refusal to allow an independent inquiry into the violence in Andijon in mid-May. EU diplomats say the bloc will agree on 3 October to impose an arms embargo and other sanctions on Uzbekistan. The steps come as trials continue in Tashkent for the first 15 people accused by the government of organizing the unrest. Where do international tensions over Andijon go from here? [Also see today's related story, Andijon Cover-Up Provokes EU Sanctions --> /featuresarticle/2005/09/56ae1a1c-486d-4b53-9f66-bc46b6123db2.html .]
A top U.S. official has confirmed that U.S. forces will leave their military base in Uzbekistan. The move at Tashkent’s request underlines tensions in U.S.-Uzbek relations, which have soured over U.S. criticism of Tashkent’s May crackdown in Andijon.
President Karimov (left) meeting in Moscow with President Putin in June 2005 (epa) A timeline of Uzbek-Russian relations and important related events in the region since the breakup of the Soviet Union.
The timing of the exercises couldn't be better for President Karimov (file photo) Russia and Uzbekistan have been engaged in joint military exercises this week, the first the two countries have ever held. Such an event was unthinkable just a few years ago but ties between the two countries have been warming. And though the exercises were already being planned last year, analysts say they could not come at a better time for Uzbekistan.
Kyrgyz lawmaker and businessman Bayaman Erkinbaev was shot dead last night in Bishkek. Erkinbaev, who was for a brief time among the country's presidential contenders earlier this year, had alleged connections to criminal groups in the southern Osh area. He is the second parliament deputy to be killed since June. His murder comes after a warning by Kyrgyzstan's ombudsman that contract murders were on the rise in the country. The Kyrgyz parliament today held an emergency session on the murder, with both President Kurmanbek Bakiev and Prime Minister Feliks Kulov in attendance.
Prosecutors of the Andijon case in court on 20 September The first 15 people accused of involvement in the May violence in the eastern Uzbek city of Andijon have plead guilty. Their guilty pleas, registered as they appeared in a Tashkent court yesterday, provide an early indication that the court proceedings will follow a well-developed pattern for terrorism trials in Uzbekistan. RFE/RL speaks with a human rights defender who has attended previous terror trials in Uzbekistan to learn how the Andijon trials are likely to go from here.
Uzbek officials have accused foreign media and NGOs of focusing only on civilian casualties Uzbekistan’s deputy prosecutor general gave a detailed account on Thursday of his government’s view of the May violence in the eastern Uzbek city of Andijon. The Uzbek official said Islamic radicals crossed into eastern Uzbekistan from neighboring Kyrgyzstan and sought to cut the Fergana Valley off from Tashkent’s control. He also called into question the role of international media and humanitarian aid organizations just before and after the violence.
New Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiev made a lot of promises when he was campaigning for office earlier this year. Among them was a pledge to rid the country of state-owned media. Work toward this goal has begun, but it’s a tall task. RFE/RL looks at some of the challenges Kyrgyzstan and its new leaders face in making the media in the country totally independent.
Nazarbaev sees foreign-funded NGOs as a dangerous threat to stability Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev cautioned foreign nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) yesterday that their activities will be closely watched. Nazarbaev is seeking re-reelection in presidential elections in December. The Kazakh president warned foreign NGOs not to interfere in the country’s politics and threatened to prosecute them if they meddled in the election campaign. But analysts say Nazarbaev is concerned about a repeat of the colored revolutions that have hit other former Soviet states.
Over the past year, Tajikistan’s independent media have suffered one setback after another. All the major opposition newspapers have been shut down, and recently the editor of one of those newspapers was jailed on what many say are politically motivated charges. In the last week, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has expressed concerns about Tajikistan’s media environment.
Since last month articles have been circulating that the United States planned to use a military base in Turkmenistan to replace the base in Uzbekistan that the government has asked the U.S. to leave. The rumors of a U.S. base seemed more plausible after a top U.S. military official visited Turkmenistan at the end of August. However, the U.S. ambassador in Turkmenistan has finally spoken out and said there are no plans for the United States to use a base there.
http://gdb.rferl.org/2680C130-6B7A-4D2F-8B9B-C2192F45FC39.JPEG --> http://gdb.rferl.org/2680C130-6B7A-4D2F-8B9B-C2192F45FC39.JPEG In a new report, a group of leading Russian rights activists is accusing authorities of ignoring systemic abuses and torture in the country's prisons. The nongovernmental movement For Human Rights compares the current prison system to the infamous gulags of the Soviet Union. The rights group is calling for new legislation allowing public oversight of detention facilities. The activists are also calling for the dismissal of the country’s top prison official.
On the evening of 24 August, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev appeared on state television to answer questions, in both Russian and Kazakh, from the country’s citizens. With Kazakhstan’s presidential election set for 4 December, the well-scripted, well-organized television session looked more like the opening of campaign season than an open exchange between the leader and his constituents.
Saparmurat Niyazov (file photo) Turkmenistan is well-known for its parade of rotating ministers and other high-level officials. This summer has been especially hard. In at least two cases officials were appointed then dismissed within roughly two months. For one, that dismissal came with criminal charges.
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