JUNE 15 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev told the deputy commander of China’s army, Ma Xiaotian, that he wanted to deepen relations between the two countries’ militaries, media reported. China has already built up strong links with the armies in Central Asia through the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.
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(News report from Issue No. 093, published on June 22 2012)
JUNE 19 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan has announced it will tender mining rights to 93 gold deposits on Aug. 20/21, media reported. Mining, especially gold, is Kyrgyzstan’s main economic lifeline and the Kumtor mine, operated by Toronto-listed Centerra Gold, accounts for around a third of the country’s GDP.
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(News report from Issue No. 093, published on June 22 2012)
JUNE 4 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – NATO’s general-secretary, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, announced that transit deals had been struck with Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan to allow the Western military alliance to withdraw kit from Afghanistan across their territories. The deals cement the strategic and political importance of Central Asia.
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(News report from Issue No. 091, published on June 8 2012)
JUNE 4 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Villagers living near Kyrgyzstan’s most important single economic entity, the Kumtor gold mine, blocked the only road leading to the site for three days in a protest over environmental protection. Kumtor generates roughly 12% of Kyrgyzstan’s GDP. Officials said the protest did not stop production, unlike a strike earlier this year.
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(News report from Issue No. 091, published on June 8 2012)
MAY 8 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Sixteen people died when an overcrowded mini-bus carrying migrant workers to Russia from southern Kyrgyzstan hit an oncoming truck. The route to and from Russia is lucrative as hundreds of thousands of workers, especially from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, work in Russia. The roads, though, can be dangerous.
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(News report from Issue No. 087, published on May 11 2012)
MAY 9 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Chzhunnen Oil Exploration, a Chinese company, said it had found oil in southern Kyrgyzstan, raising hopes of developing a small but important energy industry. Soon after Chzhunnen said it had produced a test barrel of oil at a well, Kyrgyz leaders pledged support for further investment.
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(News report from Issue No. 087, published on May 11 2012)
MAY 4 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Russia and Kyrgyzstan quietly signed an agreement on April 24 that extended the lease on Russian military bases in the Central Asian state.
This is important not only because it cements Russia’s presence in the country and but also because it was signed in Beijing. China has become so pivotal in Central Asia’s security issues that Beijing feels like a natural venue to sign bilateral military deals — in this case the deal between Russia and Kyrgyzstan.
The deal was signed between the Russian and Kyrgyz defence ministers who had been in Beijing to attend a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), the security-focused alliance headed by Russia and China which includes the Central Asian states other than Turkmenistan.
The deal to extend Russia’s lease on an airbase in Kyrgyzstan as well as a handful of other military facilities is an important one. The US operates an airbase just outside the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek, and the new Russian-Kyrgyz agreement shows how much weight Russia places on maintaining a foothold in Kyrgyzstan.
Media did not report details of the deal, which had been argued over for months but it is no doubt good for both Russia and Kyrgyzstan, and China, that a agreement has been secured.
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(News report from Issue No. 086, published on May 4 2012)
APRIL 25 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – A Kyrgyz utilities company briefly extinguished the Eternal Flame World War II monument in Bishkek when it cut off the gas because of an unpaid bill of around $10,000, AP news agency reported. The row shows the extent of the economic difficulties facing Kyrgyzstan.
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(News report from Issue No. 085, published on April 27 2012)
APRIL 16 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – A 73-year-old man died after setting himself on fire in Osh, southern Kyrgyzstan, media quoted the interior ministry as saying. Reflecting the frustrations of many people in Kyrgyzstan, the man had apparently been protesting about the lack of progress since a presidential election in October.
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(News report from Issue No. 084, published on April 20 2012)
APRIL 6 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Heavy snow has cut off villages and destroyed vital pasture in rural parts of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, already Central Asia’s poorest countries, triggering a potential humanitarian crisis.
Local news agencies in Tajikistan quoted officials describing the winter as the heaviest for 50 years. In Kyrgyzstan, officials said that in one area in the south of the country a third of the livestock has already died.
Both Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are mountainous and heavy winters can trigger major logistical problems for rural communities which have only fairly basic standards of living.
They are also already both net receivers of aid, which, as ever, comes with a political undertone.
Russian president Dmitri Medvedev has ordered aid to be flown to Tajikistan and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported that in January and February Tajikistan received aid worth $6m, mainly from Russia, Egypt and Iran.
Moscow has also strengthened relations with Kyrgyzstan last year since Almazbek Atambayev won a presidential election. Deputies in the Kyrgyz parliament have called for urgent help, a call sure to be answered by Russia and other neighbours such as Kazakhstan and possibly China.
The situation is made worse because the price of fodder to feed cattle has risen in the past few months and the government faces a shortage of airplanes and helicopters.
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(News report from Issue No. 082, published on April 6 2012)