JAN. 11 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Border guards from Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan fired at each other in a relatively rare skirmish. Several soldiers from both sides were injured in the firefight, media reported, and Kyrgyzstan later recalled its ambassador from Dushanbe. Tension has been escalating along the Kyrgyz-Tajik border for months.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 167, published on Jan. 15 2014)
JAN. 14 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — In a speech at a military parade, Uzbek President Islam Karimov said the withdrawal of NATO soldiers from Afghanistan would increase tension along the Uzbek-Afghan border and could give Islamic militants the chance to attack. NATO soldiers are planning on withdrawing steadily through 2014.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 167, published on Jan. 15 2014)
DEC. 20 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan will send soldiers on UN missions for the first time, in an attempt to bolster its international credentials. Twenty Kazakh officers will join UN missions in Haiti, Western Sahara, Ivory Coast and Liberia. Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev wants to win a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 166, published on Jan. 8 2014)
DEC. 11 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbek foreign minister Abdulaziz Kamilov led a delegation to Washington to meet with US State Department officials for annual talks, media reported. No details of the conversation were made public but the focus would have been on relations between the two countries and NATO’s withdrawal from Afghanistan next year.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 165, published on Dec. 18 2013)
DEC. 9 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — A court in Baku jailed another 10 people for plotting various attacks during the Eurovision Song Contest in May 2012. Azerbaijan has now jailed 46 people for plotting the attacks which securities officials said were linked to neighbouring Iran.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 164, published on Dec. 11 2013)
NOV. 28 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Russia complained to Kazakhstan after Kazakh border guards shot and killed one Russian fisherman in the Caspian Sea on Nov. 25, media reported. In the same incident, the Kazakh border guards also arrested seven other fisherman, all from the North Caucasus region of Dagestan, for fishing illegally.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 163, published on Dec. 4 2013)
DEC. 1 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — An Azerbaijani border guard died in a shootout on the border with Iran. The Azerbaijan-Iran border is used heavily by smugglers although the incident could also inflame tension between the two neighbours. Separately, Azerbaijani authorities released an Iranian they had suspected of plotting to bomb the Israeli embassy in Baku.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 163, published on Dec. 4 2013)
NOV. 25 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan will re-commission its 10 Su-24 bombers, withdrawn from service in 2008, media reported quoting unnamed military sources. The news is more evidence that Azerbaijan is spending heavily on its armed forces. It is still officially at war with Armenia over the disputed region of Nagorno- Karabakh.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 162, published on Nov. 27 2013)
NOV. 25 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — A court in Baku jailed 29 people linked to the Islamic extremist organisation Al Qaeda for planning a series of attacks ahead of the Eurovision Song Contest last year. Three of the imprisoned men received life sentences. Human rights groups say that Azerbaijan overstates the Islamist threat.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 162, published on Nov. 27 2013)
NOV. 20 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijani security services said they had arrested a 31-year-old Iranian man for planning to bomb the Israeli embassy in Baku. The Iranian man, Hassan Faraji, denies the charges. Azerbaijan have arrested a number of Iranians for plotting attacks. The arrest strains already tense relations with Iran.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 162, published on Nov. 27 2013)