Tag Archives: Kyrgyzstan

UN chief’s visit disappoints human rights activists

ALMATY, JUNE 15 2017 (The Bulletin) — UN Security general Antonio Guterres completed a tour of all five Central Asian states, his first since taking the job six months ago, although human rights activists complained that he had taken too soft a line on a regional crackdown of journalists and dissenters.

Mr Guterres’ main message was that the governments of the region need to remain engaged with international organisations to reach their full potential.

“Kazakhstan has been a symbol of dialogue, a symbol of peace, a symbol of the promotion of contacts between cultures, religions and civilizations; and with its presence in the (UN) Security Council, an extremely important dimension in mediation, in relation to conflict,” he said in Astana.

In Ashgabat, a few days later, after attending a counter-terrorism conference Mr Guterres, a former Portuguese PM and UN high commissioner for refugees, took a tougher line on rights.

“Upholding the rights of freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly in this region are fundamental to countering the threat that violent extremism poses,” he said.

Even so, with media freedoms and human rights on the retreat in the region, after a series of arrests of journalists and a crackdown on workers’ unions, activists accused Mr Guterres of going soft on the issue in favour of developing nodes of engagement.

Hugh Williamson, director of the Central Asia division at New York- based Human Rights Watch, said Mr Guterres had failed to meet members of local civil rights movements on his tour of the region and that describing Kazakhstan as a “pillar of stability” and Kyrgyzstan as a “pioneer of democracy” was sending out the wrong message.

“Central Asian leaders also pay close attention to what high-level visitors like Guterres focus on, also in public,” he said in a statement.

“Not only did Guterres fail to set clear expectations on human rights improvements across Central Asia, his praise for his largely authoritarian audience risks sending the message that trampling over human rights is fine.”

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(News report from Issue No. 333, published on June 19 2017)

Kazakh Parliament approves aid deal

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JUNE 14 2017 (The Bulletin) — Kazakhstan’s parliament ratified a deal to give Kyrgyzstan $100m of aid to help adapt to Eurasian Economic Union regulations for animal sanitary and customs procedures, media reported. Kyrgyzstan has previously complained that Kazakhstan was deliberately causing problems on its shared border.

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(News report from Issue No. 333, published on June 19 2017)

Kyrgyzstan trials opposition leaders

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JUNE 5 2017 (The Bulletin) — Omurbek Tekebaev, leader of Kyrgyzstan’s Ata-Mekan party, and Duishonkul Chotonov, Kyrgyzstan’s former emergencies minister, went on trial for allegedly taking bribes in 2010. They were arrested in February, triggering a series of protests in the capital Bishkek. Both men deny the charges and have said that they are politically motivated. Mr Tekebaev is the Ata Meken candidate for a presidential election in October.

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(News report from Issue No. 332, published on June 12 2017)

Kyrgyzstan arrests suicide bomber

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JUNE 8 2017 (The Bulletin) — The authorities in Kyrgyzstan said that they had arrested a man plotting a suicide attack in the country. In August 2016 a man drove a car bomb into the Chinese embassy in Bishkek. It was later blamed on Uighur separatists. No more details of the arrest or of the bomb attack plan were released.

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(News report from Issue No. 332, published on June 12 2017)

Currencies: Kyrgyzstan’s som

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JUNE 12 2017 (The Bulletin) — The Kyrgyz som dropped another 0.3% over the week, adding to a general downward trend since the end of April when it briefly threatened to break through the lower 67/$1 barrier.

On April 27, the Kyrgyz som hit 67.13/$1, a level not seen since the currency devaluation of 2015/16. Since then the som has fallen back to a level that analysts have said is a more natural range of between 68 and 69 per $1. It is now trading at 1.25% higher than at the start of the year.

Elsewhere, the Uzbek soum continued its slow downward trajectory and the Kazakh tenge moved closer to falling through the 316/$1 barrier, a level not seen since the beginning of May. It has generally tracked down with oil.

India and Pakistan join Central Asia-focused SCO

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ALMATY, JUNE 9 2017 (The Bulletin) — India and Pakistan joined the Russia and China led Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), pushing the military-economic group beyond Central Asia for the first time.

The SCO, set up in 2001 after Uzbekistan joined what had been called the Shanghai Five, now covers 3.1b people — nearly half the world’s population.

For Central Asia, the geographic focus of the SCO, the ascension of India and Pakistan confirms it as a fulcrum of world diplomacy and also pulls South Asia tighter into its economic sphere.

After its annual 2-day summit meeting in Astana, the SCO said: “The heads of state highlighted the historical significance of the SCO’s enlargement. They believe that granting full SCO membership to India and Pakistan at the current meeting of the SCO Heads of State Council will facilitate the further development and enhance the potential of the SCO.”

The success of the SCO has crept up on Western governments. It has largely been built on China’s drive into Central Asia.

Russia, through its Soviet legacy, has more access points into Central Asia than China and has largely used the SCO as a meeting place and for developing military ties. China, though, has used the SCO to dispense everything from cheap credit to infrastructure deals and military know- how and sees it as a vital cog in its ‘One Belt. One Road’ strategy focused on developing trade corridors to Europe.

Sheng Shiliang, a researcher at the Xinhua Center for World Affairs Studies, told Chinese media that SCO expansion was important to China.

“The SCO has never been just a security group from the beginning. The Belt and Road Initiative offers a timely and convenient framework for the SCO members to facilitate connectivity and ultimately, achieve free flows of goods, capital, service and technology,” he said.

For India and Pakistan, joining the SCO will increase their presence in Central Asia. Over the past five years, India has been trying to catch up with China’s progress in the region. It wants to develop markets and buy up energy projects.

Pakistan has developed links mainly through the TAPI gas pipeline, which will run from Turkmenistan and also through the CASA-1000 electricity scheme which will send power generated by hydropower stations in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.

The only country in Central Asia that is not a member of the SCO is Turkmenistan, which has traditionally taken a more isolationist neutral stance to international organisations.

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(News report from Issue No. 332, published on June 12 2017)

UN Sec-Gen visits

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JUNE 7 2017 (The Bulletin) — UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres started a tour of Central Asia by flying into Kazakhstan. He was due to attend a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organsiation (SCO) in Astana before flying to Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. This is the first visit by a UN Secretary General to Central Asia since 2015.

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(News report from Issue No. 332, published on June 12 2017)

Russia to reinforce military bases in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan

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JUNE 7 2017 (The Bulletin) — Russia plan to reinforce its military bases in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan in response to the move north of the Taliban in Afghanistan, Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu said during a visit to Kazakhstan for a summit meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). Earlier this year, the Taliban moved to within a few miles of the Amu Darya river that acts as the border between Tajikistan and Afghanistan, its furthest north. Russia keeps one of its largest overseas military bases in Tajikistan. The Kyrgyzstan base, at Kant near Bishkek, is far smaller. It is mainly used as an air base.

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(News report from Issue No. 332, published on June 12 2017)

Kyrgyzstan announces hydro tender

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JUNE 1 2017 (The Bulletin) — Kyrgyzstan announced a tender for the construction of 14 small hydropower stations across the country, part of its plan to boost electricity production. Hydroelectric power production is an essential part of Kyrgyzstan’s economy. It aims to become an exporter of electricity through the TAPI project that will send power generated by hydro schemes in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan across Afghanistan to Pakistan and India.

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(News report from Issue No. 331, published on June 5 2017)

Kyrgyz police detain protesters

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JUNE 5 2017 (The Bulletin) — The authorities in Bishkek started chopping down several dozen trees in the city centre to ease congestion, despite complaints from local residents. Several residents tried to stop workmen from cutting down the trees by standing in front of them or lying in the road. Police intervened, detaining protesters. The row encapsulates the tension across the region between residents who want to protect trees and parks, and developers and the authorities who often want to demolish green spaces for building projects that they say are necessary.

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(News report from Issue No. 331, published on June 5 2017)