AUG. 3 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Rebel fighters in south-east Tajikistan handed over hundreds of weapons in a cease-fire agreed with government forces after fighting on July 24 killed dozens of fighters and some civilians. Media reported, though, that although fighting had ceased, the main rebel commander, Tolib Ayombekov, has refused to give himself up.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 099, published on Aug. 3 2012)
JULY 24 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Officially at least 42 soldiers and rebel fighters died when Tajik government forces launched an assault against rebels in the south-east region of Gorno-Badakhshan.
It was the worst fighting in Tajikistan since 2010, when soldiers fought alleged Islamic militants along a valley in a different part of the country.
The government said the trigger for the assault was the murder of a military general three days earlier. Some analysts, though, have suggested the government may have been looking to launch this attack for some time.
Regardless, the fighting shows that government control over the fringes of Tajikistan is, at best, tenuous. President Emomali Rahkmon supposedly cemented his control over Tajikistan at the end of a civil war in 1997. The reality is that this authority, softened by the drugs trade and local factions, is often weak.
This is alarming for Central Asian states and Russia which need Tajikistan to act as a barrier against militant Islamists from Afghanistan. NATO is packing up and beginning to withdraw.
Despite pouring soldiers and helicopter gunships into Gorno-Badakhshan, government forces failed to dislodge the rebels, once again underlining the extent of central government’s power.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 098, published on July 27 2012)
JULY 12/13 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan has agreed to help finance and build Tajikistan’s first oil refinery, media reported after talks between Tajik president Emomali Rakhmon and Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev in Baku. Tajikistan imports all its oil products, 90% of them from Russia.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 097, published on July 20 2012)
JULY 18 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Sources in the Tajik government told Reuters news agency that Tajikistan and Russia were on the brink of agreeing a new 49-year lease on Russia’s military base in the Pamirs. The source said Russia would not have to pay the $250m that Tajikistan had asked for and would instead pay with arms.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 097, published on July 20 2012)
JULY 12 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – The long-running saga over extending the lease on the Russian military base in Tajikistan may have entered its end-game. Tajikistan demanded an annual lease of $250m from Russia for the base, one of its biggest overseas outposts, media reported. Under the current contract Russia pays with military assistance.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 096, published on July 13 2012)
JULY 3 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Indian foreign minister Somanahalli Krishna visited Dushanbe for two days of talks. Indian media reported that he was the first Indian foreign minister to visit Dushanbe for nine years. Mr Krishna met with his Tajik counterpart, Hamrokhon Zafiria, and discussed India’s growing interest in the region.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 095, published on July 6 2012)
JUNE 15 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kommersant, a respected Russian business newspaper, quoted sources close to governments in Central Asia describing negotiations with the US over potentially abandoning some military equipment during its withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2014.
The sources said that, as a money-saving plan, senior US generals had discussed leaving trucks, medical and fire-fighting equipment and even armoured vehicles in Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
NATO’s exit from Afghanistan is already sensitive and complex. US relations with Pakistan have broken down leaving Central Asia as the only alternative.
This means making deal with government whose human rights record falls, to put it mildly, below Western standards. Russia and China also take a close interest in Central Asia, making NATO’s potential withdrawal through the region even more sensitive.
But NATO has persevered and seemingly managed to carve itself out the route it needs.
Leaving kit in Central Asia though, even if it’s of the non-lethal variety, has not publicly been part of the plan. This has upset the Russians just when NATO needs their support.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 093, published on June 22 2012)
JUNE 6 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Ahead of a meeting of heads of states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) members in Beijing, Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon signed a number of deals with China, media reported. The deals will ensure a road is built from China across Tajikistan and grant a Chinese company copper exploration rights.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 091, published on June 8 2012)
MAY 18 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Perhaps deciding that it was too close to reality, Tajikistan declined to screen a new film by British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen entitled The Dictator, media reported. The satirical film depicts a dictator risking his life to crush signs of democracy. Human rights groups have accused the Tajik authorities of cracking down on personal liberties.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 089, published on May 25 2012)
MAY 11 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tajikistan’s aluminium smelter, vital to its economy, produced 12% less metal in the first four months of the year compared to the same period in 2012, a source at the company told Reuters. The source blamed the shortfall on a gas dispute with Uzbekistan and modernisation work that slowed output.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 088, published on May 18 2012)