MARCH 6 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – The younger brother of deposed Kyrgyz president Kurmanbek Bakiyev has escaped from prison by walking out of a hospital in Bishkek, authorities said. Akhmet Bakiyev, who was imprisoned in Aug. 2011 for 7 years for commanding a group of armed men and stirring ethnic hatred, had been receiving treatment for pneumonia.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 080, published on March 8 2012)
FEB. 25 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Underlining friendly ties between Russia and Kyrgyzstan, Russian President Dmitri Medvedev said Russia would pay a $15m debt to Kyrgyzstan for the lease of its military bases. Mr Medvedev also said he would consider how to help Kyrgyzstan repay the estimated $500m debt it owes Russia.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 079, published on March 1 2012)
FEB. 20 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili flew to Afghanistan and, dressed in a military uniform, addressed Georgia’s 900 soldiers attached to NATO forces fighting the Taliban. Two days later Georgia’s defence ministry said a bomb had killed three soldiers. Fifteen Georgian soldiers have now died in the war.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 78, published on Feb. 23 2012)
FEB. 23 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan has developed a decent business in hosting foreign air bases.
It is the only country in the world where both the US and Russia operate separate air bases giving Kyrgyzstan strategic importance beyond its size.
But not only do the US and Russian air bases lend status, they also generate cash.
In 2009 Kyrgyzstan re-negotiated a deal with the US to allow it to keep its base at the Manas airport outside Bishkek open until the end of 2014, when NATO starts to withdraw from Afghanistan, for $60m/year.
Now it looks as if Kyrgyzstan’s new president, Almazbek Atambayev, wants to reconsider the contract with Russia. As well as the airbase at Kant, Russia also operates a torpedo testing site on Lake Issyk-Kul and two other earthquake measuring and communications centres.
In September 2010, Russia and Kyrgyzstan agreed a $4.5m/year rent for these bases but on Feb. 17 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported that Mr Atambayev might now have other ideas.
During a speech to students in Osh, Mr Atambayev reportedly said the $4.5m from Russia only covered the rent of the Kant air base and that Moscow still owed cash for the other bases.
He may have been playing to the crowd but he also knows that the military bases are one of the few tools he has to generate extra income.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 78, published on Feb. 23 2012)
FEB. 10 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyz security forces said they had captured a member of a radical Islamic group linked to attacks in Bishkek in 2010 and a shootout with police in Jan. 2011. Media reported that when security officers arrested the man on the outskirts of Bishkek they also found a rifle and explosives.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 77, published on Feb. 16 2012)
FEB. 9 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – France’s defence minister, Gerard Longuet, told the magazine L’Orient Le-Jour that NATO’s logistics route through Central Asia is too expensive. NATO has earmarked the route, dubbed the Northern Distribution Network, as the best way of withdrawing soldiers and kit in 2014 from Afghanistan.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 77, published on Feb. 16 2012)
FEB. 10 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – The main opposition leader in South Ossetia, Alla Dzhioyeva, was hospitalised after security forces raided her office. Officials said Ms Dzhioyeva had a stroke but she said the security forces beat her. The authorities wanted to question her over a break-in at a government building in 2011. South Ossetia is a rebel region in Georgia.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 77, published on Feb. 16 2012)
FEB. 16 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Attacks against Israeli targets in Georgia, India and Thailand and an acrimonious row between Baku and Tehran have thrown a spotlight over the relationship between the South Caucasus and Iran.
The same day that Georgian security forces disarmed a car bomb in Tbilisi another exploded in Delhi, injuring an Israeli woman (Feb. 13). Israel has blamed Iran for both attacks and another in Bangkok the following day.
Three weeks earlier the authorities in Baku arrested two Iranians for conspiring to assassinate Israeli diplomats, although Iran denied the charges.
The South Caucasus has a complex, fluid relationship with Iran.
Over the past year, much to the irritation of the US, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia have strengthened ties with Iran. Gas deals have been made, railway and air links solidified, visa regulations waived and military delegations hosted. Private business and trade links have also surged.
But behind these strengthening connections relations often remain strained.
Azerbaijan has built up good links with Israel and Georgia’s main backer is the US. Both are Iran’s sworn enemy. Armenia has more cordial ties with Iran but it also needs to be flexible.
The South Caucasus countries have to deal with their powerful neighbour but they are also wary.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 77, published on Feb. 16 2012)
FEB. 1 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, has signed a waiver allowing the US to give Uzbekistan non-lethal military aid despite concerns over its human rights record, news agencies reported. Ms Clinton signed the waiver on Jan. 18. Uzbekistan is a vital cog in the US supply chain to its forces in Afghanistan.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 76, published on Feb. 9 2012)
JAN. 31 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – After 46 days, the Kazakh authorities lifted a state-of-emergency in Zhanaozen. Zhanaozen, about two hours drive from Aktau on the Caspian Sea coast, was the focus of rioting last month. Police opened fire on protesting oil workers, killing at least 16 people.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 75, published on Feb. 2 2012)