OCT. 3 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyz police fired tear gas in Bishkek to disperse about 2,000 people who were calling for the overthrow of the government after it pledged not to nationalise the Kumtor gold mine, media reported. About 200 people tried to climb over a fence surrounding the government’s headquarters in the worst violence in Bishkek since a revolution in 2010.
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(News report from Issue No. 107, published on Oct. 5 2012)
SEP. 21 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Kumtor gold mine, Kyrgyzstan’s largest industrial operation, started production after a closure lasting seven weeks, media reported. Kumtor, owned by Toronto-based Centerra Gold, stopped production of gold in mid-July because of a lack of ore to process.
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(News report from Issue No. 106, published on Sep. 28 2012)
SEP. 20 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Russian President Vladimir Putin will sign an extension on the lease of Russia’s air base in Kyrgyzstan during a visit to Bishkek, Russian media reported. Mr Putin started his visit on Sept. 20. The Russian air base outside Bishkek is considered strategically important, particularly as a counter-balance to the US base at Manas airport.
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(News report from Issue No. 105, published on Sep. 21 2012)
SEP. 3 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyz parliamentarians patched together a new coalition, quashing fears of instability after the Ar-Namys and Ata-Meken parties quit government nine days earlier. The Social Democratic party’s Jantoro Satibaldiyev, a former chief of the presidential staff, is the new PM. Ar-Namys and Ata-Meken are part of the 3-party coalition.
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(News report from Issue No. 104, published on Sep. 14 2012)
SEP. 10 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan’s economy shrunk by nearly 5% in the first eight months of 2012 because of problems at its Kumtor gold mine, Reuters reported quoting official statistics. Kumtor accounts for 12% of Kyrgyzstan’s GDP. This year the company running the high altitude open-pit mine said ice flow moves would knock production.
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(News report from Issue No. 104, published on Sep. 14 2012)
AUG. 27 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyz president Almazbek Atambayev asked his political party, the Social Democrats, to try to form a new governing coalition in parliament after the collapse last week of a four-party group over corruption allegations, media reported. The Social Democrats have 15 days to form a government.
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(News report from Issue No. 103, published on Aug. 31 2012)
AUG. 28 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Nationalist protesters broke into a TV studio in Bishkek shortly before it was due to stage Kyrgyzstan’s first live auction of mining rights. Scuffles broke out and the auction had to be abandoned, dealing another blow to Kyrgyzstan’s foreign investor image.
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(News report from Issue No. 103, published on Aug. 31 2012)
AUG. 27 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyz security forces said they had arrested members of a unit of the banned Hizb-ut-Tahrir Islamist group in the south of the country, media reported. Hizb-ut-Tahrir aims to create an Islamic hegemony through peaceful means although many countries have labelled it an extremist organisation and banned it.
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(News report from Issue No. 103, published on Aug. 31 2012)
AUG. 21 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – A Kyrgyz border guard murdered four fellow soldiers and one of their wives before he was shot dead by police. There have been several cases this year of conscripts in Central Asian armies murdering other soldiers. Most observers blame a culture of bullying for the murders.
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(News report from Issue No. 102, published on Aug. 24 2012)
AUG. 16 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – After months of negotiations, Russian and Kyrgyz officials have agreed a deal to allow Russia to keep its bases in Kyrgyzstan, media quoted officials as saying. Russia maintains an airbase outside Bishkek, a communication station and torpedo testing site near Lake Issyk-Kul and a seismologist centre in the south of the country.
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(News report from Issue No. 101, published on Aug. 17 2012)