Tag Archives: Uzbekistan

I want to stay, says Uzbek President

May 19 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbek President Islam Karimov clearly intends to remain in power for some time to come.

At a conference in Samarkand, Mr Karimov, 76, said that he had no intention of relinquishing power any time soon.

“I am one of those who is criticised for staying too long,” AFP quoted Mr Karimov telling diplomats and scholars gathered for a conference on the Golden Age of Islam.

“I am criticized, but I stay. I am criticised but I want to keep working. What’s wrong with that?”

Mr Karimov’s comments are pertinent for two reasons. Over the past six months or so some doubt has crept in over the strength of the Karimov family’s grip on power. Mr Karimov’s eldest daughter, Gulnara, has disappeared from public life since she was reportedly placed under house arrest earlier this year. Prior to that she had been stripped, very publicly, of power and influence.

As, seemingly, her father’s successor, these attacks on Gulnara were seen as an attack on Mr Karimov himself. His powerful intelligence chief, Rustam Inoyatov is widely thought of to be behind the discrediting of Gulnara Karimova.

Mr Karimov has ruled over Uzbekistan since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Next year, Uzbekistan holds a presidential election. This may only be a Potemkin election but it is still important and it looks as if Mr Karimov will be one of the candidates.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 185, published on May 21 2014)

Uzbekistan car sales fall

May 15 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The joint-venture between US carmaker GM and the Uzbek government sold 14% less cars in Russia between January and April this year compared with the same period in 2013, media reported. Reports did not give a reason why sales had tailed off. Russia is one of the key markets for the car plant, based in Andijan, east Uzbekistan.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 185, published on May 21 2014)

HRW pressures Uzbekistan on Andijan inquiry

MAY 13 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The New York-based Human Rights Watch called on the US and the EU to press Uzbekistan to allow an independent inquiry into the killings at Andijan, in the east of the country nine years ago. Officially 187 people died when soldiers fired on a crowd, although government critics have said the real figure is far more.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 184, published on May 14 2014)

Amnesty highlights torture in Uzbekistan

MAY 13 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – For its global campaign against torture, Amnesty International has focused its attention on Uzbekistan.

Amnesty said that torture in Uzbekistan is widespread and that it often passes without being punished. It said that the Uzbek security services often beat detainees and sometimes rape them in order to get a confession.

One of Amnesty’s five global case studies was of an Uzbek women who fled the country in 2005 after police opened fire on a crowd of protesters. She returned five years later, was detained at the airport and then sent to jail for trying to organise a revolution. Eye witnesses, according to Amnesty, said the woman’s face was bruised and that she looked unusually thin at her trial.

None of this is new, but it is still worth highlighting. It’s also worth highlighting that most countries in Central Asia have a poor record on torture and human rights.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 184, published on May 14 2014)

South Kyrgyzstan survives without gas

MAY 8 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan said that Uzbekistan was still restricting gas supplies to its southern city of Osh. Osh has reportedly been without gas for a few weeks, generating some social tension. Uzbekistan’s Soviet era gas system supplies southern Kyrgyzstan with gas. Relations between Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan are strained.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 184, published on May 14 2014)

Top US diplomat visits Uzbekistan

MAY 7 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – On a visit to Tashkent, US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns tried to woo Uzbekistan’s leaders by pointing to Ukraine and warning of the dangers that Russia still represents. Mr Burns said that the US’ commitment to Uzbekistan and the Central Asia region was enduring.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 184, published on May 14 2014)

World Bank endorses Tajik hydroelectric projects

MAY 10 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – In an interview with Tajik media outlet Asia Plus, Jorg Frieden, executive director at the World Bank in charge of its projects in Central Asia, underscored the eggshells the Bank and other international organisations must tread over when dealing with large scale energy projects in the region.

The Bank’s endorsement of hydroelectric projects, whether from a technical or financial point of view, is particularly important for Tajikistan, a country full of hydro potential, but with a track record of failing to attract foreign investment.

Dushanbe is also locked in a perennial conflict over its hydropower ambitions with downstream Uzbekistan. Uzbek President Islam Karimov has said that upstream dams in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan could trigger water wars if constructed.

The World Bank has already pledged $526m towards CASA-1000, a project that aims to deliver power from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to electricity-deficient Afghanistan and Pakistan further south.

Mr Frieden reiterated the bank’s support for CASA-1000 while acknowledging that Uzbekistan strongly opposed it.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 184, published on May 14 2014)

Uzbek airline to boost presence

MAY 11 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbekistan Airways is negotiating joining the Sky Team alliance whose members include Air France, Alitalia, three Chinese airlines and others, media reported. The Uzbek national airline has been pushing hard to boost its profile and routes over the past few months.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 184, published on May 14 2014)

Uzbek al-Qaeda leader killed in Yemen

MAY 2 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — In Yemen media reported that government soldiers had killed 13 members of an al-Qaeda militant group, including their Uzbek leader. This is significant for Uzbekistan which has been battling militant Islamists for years. There have been a number of credible reports of Uzbeks fighting in Yemen and Afghanistan..

(News report from Issue No. 183, published on May 7 2014)

Construction work damages Uzbek heritage site

APRIL 30 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Construction work at the turquoise domed Registan in Samarkand, listed by UNESCO as a world heritage site, has damaged a couple of the towers, media reported. Two of the madrassa’s 18th century towers have developed a lean of 8cm since work began on building an amphitheatre in the complex.

(News report from Issue No. 183, published on May 7 2014)