Tag Archives: Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyz – Tajik border row flares

MAY 7 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – An on-off border row between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan has flared up again, according to media reports.

Around 60 people were injured in a fight between villagers on each side of the border. Various cargo and trucks were destroyed.

This is a potentially dangerous issue and could destabilise the restive southern edge of Kyrgyzstan and the wider Ferghana Valley region, the most densely populated area of Central Asia.

Talks between the two governments over the delimitation of the 300km-long disputed border have been moving, at a sluggish pace, through out the year.

In January, a shootout between opposing forces injured several soldiers. As with many parts of Central Asia, the borders around southern Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan appear to have been draw up to generate strife and problems. Communities of different nationalities intersect each other; enclaves generate flashpoints.

As well as adding to the daily inconveniences experienced by communities living close to the border, the clashes hurt big business. In March South-Kyrgyz-Cement reported that sales had fallen as a result of Kyrgyzstan’s closure of the Tajik-Kyrgyz border, which lasted over two months after the Jan. 11 shootout.

A Kyrgyz-owned gas station and containers carrying cement and coal were among the property burned during in the most recent conflict.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 184, published on May 14 2014)

Kazakh president snubs Moscow military meeting for US diplomat

MAY 8 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev appears to have triggered a minor international row by snubbing a meeting of a former Soviet military group in favour of talks with a senior US diplomat.

Mr Nazarbayev had been due to travel to Moscow for a meeting of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), a military group that includes Russia, Belarus, Tajikistan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan.

Instead he decided to meet with the US deputy Secretary of State, William Burns, in Astana.

Officials were quick to deny there was a problem even though all the other CSTO leaders turned up in Moscow for a meeting chaired by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Mr Nazarbayev was conspicuous by his absence.

Back in Astana, to make the situation even more uncomfortable for Mr Nazarbayev, diplomats told journalists that Mr Burns had asked Mr Nazarbayev to try and use his influence with Mr Putin to relax Russia’s pressure in eastern Ukraine.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 184, published on May 14 2014)

Inflation rises in Kyrgyzstan

MAY 2 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Inflation in Kyrgyzstan in the first three months of the year measured 7.1%, media quoted the Kyrgyz Central Bank as saying. The Central Bank said that a fall in the value of the Kyrgyz som, it fell in line with most currencies in Central Asia, had increased inflation above expectations.

ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 183, published on May 7 2014)

Walnut forests produce valuable commodity in Kyrgyzstan

ARSLANBOB/Kyrgyzstan, MAY 7 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — In rural Kyrgyzstan, walnuts are important. Ilhon sighed as he leaned in and explained the significance of the walnut to the local economy of this small village in the Jalalabad region, south Kyrgyzstan.Surrounding the village is a 60,000 hectare walnut forest, providing a crop of about 1,000 tonnes each year.

In a country as poor as Kyrgyzstan, walnut crops can make up around a third of the average annual salary. The walnut season also provides a trickle-down effect on employment.

As well as the farmers, who lease the state-owned land to collect the walnut, other people are employed to shell walnuts and drivers to transport it to local markets. Most of the walnuts are then sent to Turkey, Iran and Iraq.

Still, it is just seasonal labour and when the season finishes its time to find fresh work.

Just like most of Kyrgyzstan, Ilhon and his brother look to Russia for help.

They head north to find casual labour, sending home most of what they earn. It’s tough and the pay isn’t great, but at least is does pay.

“Life is more difficult in winter,” Ilhon said of the drop in employment once the walnut season ends. “There is very little work around Arslanbob. Many of the men here go to Russia.”

There is another problem for Ilhon and others living and working in the walnut forests of south Kyrgyzstan. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union the forests have been increasingly poorly managed. These forests are the largest walnut forests in the world but they are also under threat.”

ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 183, published on May 7 2014)

Tension builds in Kyrgyzstan’s second city

MAY 3 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Gunmen shot a relative of Osh’s popular but controversial former mayor, Melis Myrzakmatov, at his home near the southern capital, sparking fears that a turf war may be brewing.

Jenish Sadiev, 39, to whom the Kyrgyz National Opposition Movement refer to as Mr Myrzakmatov’s nephew, died in hospital on May 2.

Once considered the most powerful politician in the country’s ethnically fragmented South, Mr Myrzakmatov’s whereabouts has been unknown since he failed to win a mayoral election in January.

The former Mayor, accused of stirring ethnic tension in 2010 that triggered violence which killed hundreds, nevertheless retains strong networks in and around the city especially among ethnic Kyrgyz. He is considered a potential opposition figurehead to the central government in Bishkek.

But a mix of politics, organised crime, ethnic division and family loyalties mean that few things are simple in Kyrgyzstan.

Suyin Omurzakov is the chief of police for Osh city. He also happens to be a political rival of Mr Myrzakmatov. He denied that Sadiev, the dead man, was related to the Mr Myrzakmatov and also rejected any government role in the shooting.

Whatever the truth tension is rising in Osh, already a tinderbox of divided loyalties and discontent.

ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 183, published on May 7 2014)

Kyrgyz officials look to join the Customs Union

MAY 6 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Officials from Kyrgyzstan flew to Moscow to discuss joining the Russia-led Customs Union either later this year or next year, media reported. Armenia is looking to join the economic bloc, which also includes Kazakhstan and Belarus, this year but Kyrgyzstan has stalled slightly.

ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 183, published on May 7 2014)

Tension rises at the Tajik-Kyrgyz border

MAY 5 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Tension between border guards from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan once again closed the border for two days, media reported. Reports said that villages from both countries along their shared southern border blocked the road. Earlier this year a shootout between security forces killed several people.

(News report from Issue No. 183, published on May 7 2014)

Kyrgyz PM urges police improvement

APRIL 24 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Perhaps highlighting his reformer credentials, Kyrgyzstan’s new PM, Joomart Ortobayev, criticised the the police for being flawed and corrupt, media reported. Mr Ortobayev said the police were not doing enough to stop the illegal trade in coal. Foreign investors have often complained about police corruption.

(News report from Issue No. 182, published on April 30 2014)

Kyrgyz PM endorses the accession to the Customs Union

APRIL 17 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Joining the Russia-led Customs Union is the right thing for Kyrgyzstan, the country’s new PM, Djoomart Otorbayev, said in an interview with the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Mr Otorbayev’s statement is important as it underlines Kyrgyzstan’s drive to join the Customs Union.

(News report from Issue No. 182, published on April 30 2014)

Kyrgyzstan raises utility tariffs

APRIL 28 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — July 1 will see costs for electricity, heating and hot water rise for residents of Kyrgyzstan, the ministry of energy said.

The last time the Kyrgyz authorities introduced a major utilities hike was at the start of 2010. A few months later, a violent revolution had overthrown Kurmanbek Bakiyev. Mr Bakiyev’s administration was famous for rolling blackouts and heating shortages as harsh winters and corruption took their toll on the national energy grid.

This time, the government headed by new PM Joomart Ortobayev is proceeding more carefully, staggering prices for energy relative to consumption. Heavy users of electricity will be charged triple the current prices by 2017 but the more economically vulnerable users who use lower levels of electricity will be charged only 22.5% more. Heating and hot water costs are similarly tailored.

Kyrgyz energy utilities remain among the cheapest in the world, but in the context of a struggling economy, some are feeling squeezed and the increases are a risk for Mr Ortobayev who has been Kyrgyzstan’s PM for only a few weeks.

Elena Jdanova, a Bishkek pet store owner, thought that small businesses and the middle class are picking up the tab for poor energy policies.

“Every year the government accuses [citizens] of overconsumption, when we know energy is still being stolen by officials. I have over 130 animals that need constant light and heat. These increases will ruin me,” she said.

Kyrgyzstan’s opposition is likely to use the utilities price increase to whip up support but, long-term, the government had little alternative to reducing the subsidies.

(News report from Issue No. 182, published on April 30 2014)