May 29 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) -Kazakhstan signed a deal with Russia to build a new nuclear plant in Kurchatov, a city in the north-east of the country. Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev has said for years that he wanted to build another nuclear power plant, although the location and partners needed to build it had not been specified.
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(News report from Issue No. 187, published on JUNE 4 2014)
JUNE 2 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) -In Tajikistan, where military service is compulsory, a debate is brewing about violence in the armed forces. The outcome of a high-profile trial may impact how President Emomali Rakhmon will react.
The trial revolves around 20-year-old border guard Shakhbol Mirzoyev who was seriously injured after, allegedly, being beaten up by fellow soldiers on March 6.
Tajikistan’s Asia-Plus news service reported that Mr Mirzoyev’s had his leg and neck broken.
The republic’s main opposition party the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan has since called for changes to the law on forced military conscription and the elimination of the practice of oblava which sees unwilling conscripts effectively kidnapped into armed service.
A period of hazing — physical and psychological intimidation that is part of most armies across the former Soviet Union — often follows such kidnappings.
Many young Tajiks flee abroad to dodge conscription.
Malik, a 23-year old Tajik national who graduated from university in Bishkek says he isn’t going home this summer.
“My [Tajik] friends in Kyrgyzstan here have all paid the army off, so they are safe,” he said. “But I am here on a scholarship and my family don’t have money. If they find me, I will have to serve.”
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 187, published on JUNE 4 2014)
MAY 27 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – A court in Georgia acquitted ex-Georgian defence minister Davit Kezerashvili, an associate of former president Mikheil Saakashvili, of money laundering and bribe-taking. Mr Kezerashvili was tried in absentia as he is in France on bail after his extradition request was declined.
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(News report from Issue No. 186, published on May 28 2014)
MAY 26 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – A court in Azerbaijan sentenced the well-regarded election monitor Anar Mammadli to 5-1/2 years in prison for tax evasion and illegal business dealings. Rights groups say Mammadli’s real crime was to be an opposition figure. The authorities are cracking down on anti-government figures.
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(News report from Issue No. 186, published on May 28 2014)
MAY 23 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) -Georgia has resumed supplying gas to Armenia through its north-south pipeline after a rock fall earlier this month damaged it, Gazprom- Armenia said. The pipeline from Russia through Georgia is the main supply route to Armenia. Rock falls, though, are a problem and can trigger shortages each year.
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(News report from Issue No. 186, published on May 28 2014)
MAY 22 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tigran Sargsyan, Armenia’s former PM, is likely to become the country’s next ambassador in the US, media reported. Mr Sargsyan resigned as PM in April after six years in the job. It had been unclear, until now, what job Mr Sargysan would take on next.
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(News report from Issue No. 186, published on May 28 2014)
MAY 27 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) -Protesters stormed the presidential administration in the Georgian rebel region of Abkhazia, forcing Aleksandr Ankvab, its leader, to flee. Protesters said they were frustrated with corruption. Mr Ankvab later denounced their action as a coup attempt. Russia has supported Abkhazian independence from Georgia since a 2008 war.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 186, published on May 28 2014)
MAY 23 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Following the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) pledged to lend Kazakhstan an extra $2b over the next three years. The deal was signed at the annual Astana Economic Forum.
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(News report from Issue No. 186, published on May 28 2014)
MAY 26 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Eurasian Development Bank, set up to fund projects in Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) member states, agreed to lend Kyrgyzstan $20m to develop its agriculture, media reported. The EEU will replace the Customs Union which comprises of Kazakhstan, Russia and Belarus. Kyrgyzstan aims to join later this year.
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(News report from Issue No. 186, published on May 28 2014)
MAY 21 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tajikistan’s restive southeast is threatening to boil over again after a special forces operation near Khorog, capital of Gorno-Badakhshan region, led to four deaths and a week of protests.
The deaths and the subsequent protests underline the difficulty that Tajik president Emomali Rakhmon has in imposing central government will on this restive part of the country.
The target of the operation was given as drug traffickers. That, though, may have been a euphemism for a local anti-government warlord.
The special forces operation killed two people in broad daylight and injured several others, angering locals who then protested and tried to storm the security forces headquarters. Reports said that two protesters were killed and more injured when security forces fired on the crowd.
The whole operation is reminiscent of a security operation in the same area two years ago. Back then, the army had to virtually close off the area and engage in street to street fighting with rebels. Dushanbe may have committed another blunder in a part of the country where its authority has been limited ever since a civil war in the 1990s.
Gorno-Badakhshan, whose population backed the ill-fated United Tajik Opposition in that conflict, is a hub of anti-government resentment.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 186, published on May 28 2014)