DEC. 13 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Maksim Bakyiev, son or former Kyrgyz president Kurmanbek Bakiyev, appeared for his first court hearing in London over an extradition request from the US where authorities have accused him of masterminding a complex insider dealing system, media reported. Mr Bakiyev fled to London after a revolution in 2010.
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(News report from Issue No. 117, published on Dec. 14 2012)
DEC. 10 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Perhaps it was just scare-mongering, but Nikolai Patrushev, the head of Russia’s National Security Council and a close adviser to president Vladimir Putin, said that his staff were monitoring Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan for signs of any re-emergence of the so-called colour revolutions, Russian media reported.
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(News report from Issue No. 117, published on Dec. 14 2012)
DEC. 3 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Tajik authorities unblocked Facebook, a social networking website, and the website of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), a US-funded news service. Tajikistan worries the internet may spread unrest and has periodically blocked access to websites. Facebook and RFE/RL had been blocked for about a week.
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(News report from Issue No. 116, published on Dec. 7 2012)
NOV. 29 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – At her first meeting with her new Georgian counterpart, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton publicly criticised Georgia’s new government for arresting several officials linked closely to the previous government. The previous government has described the arrests as a witch-hunt against them.
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(News report from Issue No. 115, published on Nov. 30 2012)
NOV. 29 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Media in Tajikistan reported that the government had blocked access to Facebook, the social networking website, and the website of US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. The Tajik authorities have previously temporarily blocked media websites, including Facebook, on fears they could spread unrest.
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(News report from Issue No. 115, published on Nov. 30 2012)
NOV. 16 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Police in Georgia arrested more senior officials, mainly linked to the opposition, throughout the week in an operation some have described as a witch-hunt by the new government. Highlighting the alarm felt by Georgia’s foreign allies, the US publicly asked the authorities to stop the arrests.
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(News report from Issue No. 114, published on Nov. 23 2012)
NOV. 20 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – After five years in exile, Georgia’s former defence minister Irakli Okruashvili returned to Tbilisi to face accusations of bribe-taking and forming an illegal armed group. Mr Okruashvili had been an ally of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili before becoming an opposition leader in 2007 and then fleeing.
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(News report from Issue No. 114, published on Nov. 23 2012)
NOV. 19 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Instability stalks Kyrgyzstan. It’s prone to revolution, the rule of law is weak, corruption is deeply-rooted and ethnic tensions simmer just below the surface.
Under-pinning all this is its relatively impoverished economy. Alongside Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan is the poorest country in Central Asia, with little arable land or natural resources.
All this makes the Kumtor gold mine in the mountains of eastern Kyrgyzstan so important. It’s owned by Toronto-listed Centerra Gold (which is, itself, part owned by the Kyrgyz government). The mine makes up around 12% of the country’s annual GDP.
That’s why the announcement earlier this month by Centerra that the gold reserves at the mine are actually more than 50% larger than originally thought was so important (Nov. 8).
Centerra went further and said the life-span of the mine would be extended by another five years to 2023. Good news, indeed, for Kyrgyzstan.
Less positive was an announcement by the Central Bank that it expects inflation to be higher in 2013 than first thought. It now forecasts inflation in 2013 at around 11%, up from an earlier forecast of 8%. Rising food prices have created the inflationary pressure — a bad economic sign not just for Kyrgyzstan but for the entire Central Asia region.
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(News report from Issue No. 114, published on Nov. 23 2012)
NOV. 21 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – In their latest effort to close opposition media, the Kazakh authorities asked the courts to label TV station K+ and the Respublika and Vzglyad newspapers as extremist and ban them. This year, in the wake of riots in the west of the country, the authorities have cracked down on media it views as troublesome.
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(News report from Issue No. 114, published on Nov. 23 2012)
NOV. 22 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyz authorities have accused an Irish researcher, Conor Prasad, working for the Brussels-based think tank International Crisis Group (ICG) of stirring ethnic tension in Osh, media reported. The ICG, which publishes influential reports on Central Asia, and Kyrgyzstan in particular, denied the allegations.
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(News report from Issue No. 114, published on Nov. 23 2012)