Tag Archives: Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyzstan struggles to build a working government

DEC. 6 2010 (The Conway Bulletin) — Perhaps US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke too soon.

“There are many who say parliamentary democracy, true parliamentary democracy, cannot work in Central Asia or in many other places in the world,” Ms Clinton said in Bishkek on Dec. 2.

“We reject that and we think Kyrgyzstan has proven that it can.”

The next day, a three-party coalition set up on Nov. 30 to form a government collapsed when its candidate to become parliament’s speaker, Omurbek Tekebayev, failed to secure the necessary majority in a parliamentary vote. Mr Tekebayev won 58 out of 120 votes.

The defeat undermined Social Democratic party leader Almazbek Atambayev, a close ally of President Roza Otunbayeva, who wanted to become the PM and head of a government coalition with the Respublika party and Ata Meken.

Kyrgyzstan — notoriously fractious and unstable — is now running out of time to form a government since an indecisive election on Oct. 10.

The Ata Zhurt party, dominated by politicians from the south and opposed to constitutional reform away from a presidential system, won the most votes but has been excluded from potential coalitions. And so on Dec. 4 Ms Otunbayeva turned to the head of the Respublika party, Omurbek Babanov, and asked him to patch together a coalition government within three weeks.

This is the Kyrgyz parliament’s second coalition building effort — under Kyrgyzstan’s new constitution, three failures triggers new elections.

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(News report from Issue No. 18, published on Dec. 6 2010)

Uzbeks jailed for violence in Kyrgyzstan

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NOV. 24 2010 (The Conway Bulletin) – A court in the southern Kyrgyz city of Osh sentenced 17 ethnic Uzbeks to life in prison and two more to 25 years for the murder of 16 Kyrgyz during rioting in June. About 370 mainly ethnic Uzbeks died in the ethnic violence. Human rights groups have said Uzbeks are being blamed unfairly for the violence.

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(News report from Issue No. 17, published on Nov. 29 2010)

WikiLeaks cable says China wanted to shut US base in Kyrgyzstan

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NOV. 28 2010 (The Conway Bulletin) – A confidential cable written by the US ambassador in Bishkek in Feb. 2009 to her bosses in Washington quoted Kyrgyz officials saying that China had offered Kyrgyzstan $3b to close down the US airbase outside Bishkek. The cable was one of 291 published so far by WikiLeaks.

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(News report from Issue No. 17, published on Nov. 29 2010)

Shanghai Cooperation Organisation meets in Tajikistan

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NOV. 25 2010 (The Conway Bulletin) – The heads of governments of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation member states met in Dushanbe to discuss increasing humanitarian and economic cooperation. They were candid about the results other than to say they had agreed to boost regional aid. Founded in 2001, the SCO consists of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Mongolia, India, Pakistan and Iran hold observer status and attended the meeting.

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WikiLeaks publishes US embassy cables from Astana and Bishkek

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NOV. 29 2010 (The Conway Bulletin) – WikiLeaks has released 291 out of a promised 251,287 US diplomatic cables.

Of those 291 documents, five originated from Astana, two from Bishkek and four from Ashgabat. Perhaps the most inflammatory revelation is the Feb. 2009 cable from the US ambassador in Bishkek who confronted the Chinese ambassador over Kyrgyz claims that China had offered them $3b to close the US airbase outside Bishkek.

The base is vital for resupplying NATO forces in Afghanistan. According to the leaked cable, the Chinese Ambassador’s denial was unconvincing.

A cable from Jan. 2010 documented a lunch between the U.S. ambassador in Astana and the vice president of Kazmunaigas, Maksat Idenov, who named the men he thought were closest to Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev.

They were Chief of the president’s staff Aslan Musin, the Chief of administration of the president’s office Sarybai Kalmurzayev, foreign minister Kanat Saudabayev, PM Karim Masimov and Mr Nazarbayev’s son-in-law Timur Kulibayev.

A cable from Kazakhstan in April 2009 written by the US ambassador on Kazakh officials said: “they’re stealing directly from the public trough”, another cable detailed the elite’s drinking habits and another cable described a fractious meeting between executives from Chevron and Kazmunaigas.

One cable also gave a detailed account of a meeting with the Chinese ambassador in Astana and his views on Central Asia, China’s energy policy in the region and his description of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili as “not a mature statesman”.

From Ashgabat, a cable described an arms find at the border with Iran.

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(News report from Issue No. 17, published on Nov. 29 2010)

Clinton to visit Central Asia

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NOV. 29 2010 (The Conway Bulletin) – In the wake of WikiLeaks’ publication of confidential files from US Embassies around the world, US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton will visit Central Asia this week. She flies to Kazakhstan for an OSCE summit on Dec. 1, 2010 and then visits Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan before flying on to Bahrain.

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(News report from Issue No. 17, published on Nov. 29 2010)

Kyrgyzstan cancels gold mining contract

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NOV. 22 2010 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan cancelled a contract to develop its second largest gold deposit signed in 2006 between the state gold mining company and an Austrian company, Reuters reported. Kyrgyzstan said the consortium had failed to develop infrastructure as part of an agreed $200m deal. It plans to re-auction the tender.

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(News report from Issue No. 16, published on Nov. 22 2010)

Kyrgyzstan begins to build a government

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NOV. 11 2010 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyz President Roza Otunbayeva asked her parliamentary allies, the Social Democrats, to form a coalition government by Nov. 27 despite coming third in an election in October. Kyrgyzstan’s new parliament met for the first time on Nov. 10. Most of the deputies for the winning Ata Zhurt party failed to turn up.

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(News report from Issue No. 15, published on Nov. 15 2010)

US renews Mina Corp. fuel supply contract in Kyrgyzstan

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NOV. 3 2010 (The Conway Bulletin) — The US renewed a lucrative jet fuel contract for its airbase in Kyrgyzstan with oil trading company Mina Corp. The current Kyrgyz administration views Mina Corp. with suspicion because of its links to ousted President Kurmanbek Bakieyev and had asked the US to revoke the contract.

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(News report from Issue No. 14, published on Nov. 8 2010)

Kyrgyzstan releases official election results

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NOV. 1 2010 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Kyrgyz central election committee gave the official results of the Oct. 10 election, triggering negotiations to form a government between the five parties that won seats in parliament. The results shut out the Butun party which says it has been cheated out of seats and has pledged to demonstrate.

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(News report from Issue No. 13, published on Nov. 1 2010)