OCT. 17 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — A court in Switzerland has ruled that the Tajik Aluminium Company (TALCO), Tajikistan’s largest industrial project, breached contracts with RusAl, the Russia-based aluminium company in 2003, media reported. The court ordered TALCO to pay costs of $275m. A spokesman for TALCO said it would appeal the ruling.
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(News report from Issue No. 157, published on Oct. 23 2013)
OCT. 11 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The main opposition candidate in the Tajik presidential election next month, rights activist Oynihol Bobonazarova, said she had been barred from standing. She blamed the Tajik Central Election Committee for disqualifying her because she had failed to collect enough signatures to support her candidature.
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(News report from Issue No. 156, published on Oct. 16 2013)
OCT. 11 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — A train carrying 200 Tajik soldiers through Uzbekistan derailed, injuring dozens, media reported. The train had to pass through a sliver of Uzbek territory en route from Dushanbe to northern Tajikistan. Tajikistan blamed the Uzbek authorities for the accident, raising tension between the two neighbours.
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(News report from Issue No. 156, published on Oct. 16 2013)
OCT. 7 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Russia’s base in Tajikistan is essential for regional security Russian parliamentarian Sergei Naryshkin said on an official visit to Dushanbe. After a one year delay, Tajikistan’s parliament on Oct. 1 ratified a deal to extend by 30 years Russia’s lease on the base, its largest overseas operation.
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(News report from Issue No. 155, published on Oct. 9 2013)
OCT. 2 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Tajikistan’s main opposition surprised observers by picking a female human rights activist to be its candidate in a presidential election scheduled for November, media reported. Oynihol Bobonazarova is the first woman to run in a presidential election in Tajikistan. President Emomali Rakhmon is guaranteed a win.
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(News report from Issue No. 154, published on Oct. 2 2013)
SEPT. 24 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), a Russia-led military group, will arm Tajik forces along its border with Afghanistan, Russian President Vladimir Putin said after a meeting in Sochi, south Russia. The CSTO is worried about the spread of the Taliban from Afghanistan after NATO leaves in 2014.
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(News report from Issue No. 153, published on Sept. 25 2013)
SEPT. 16 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan signed a deal to sell spare power to Pakistan and Afghanistan. The deal, signed in Islamabad, means building power cables from Central Asia. Hydropower stations in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan generate spare electricity in the summer while both Pakistan and Afghanistan suffer shortages.
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(News report from Issue No. 152, published on Sept. 18 2013)
SEPT. 14 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Rounding off a tour of Central Asia, Chinese president Xi Jinping signed a deal with his Tajik counterpart, Emomali Rakhmon, to build a 400km gas pipeline crossing Tajikistan to China from Turkmenistan. The deal, announced on the side lines of a regional summit in Bishkek, is a major boost for Tajikistan.
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(News report from Issue No. 152, published on Sept. 18 2013)
AUG. 30 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Tajikistan’s parliament called a presidential election for Nov. 6. Incumbent president, Emomali Rakhmon, is expected to win a large victory and another seven-year term. He has ruled Tajikistan since the end of a civil war in the mid-1990s. Critics say the election will be a one-sided farce.
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(News report from Issue No. 150, published on Sept. 2 2013)
AUG. 1 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — During a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon promised that Tajikistan’s parliament would soon ratify an agreement that will allow Russia’s military to remain in the country until 2042. Delays in ratifying the deal, made in 2012, have strained relations with Russia.
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(News report from Issue No. 146, published on Aug. 5 2013)