Tag Archives: Kyrgyzstan

Public dept rises in Kyrgyzstan

SEPT. 19 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan’s public debt has soared to $4.1b inching closer to the psychological threshold of 60% of the country’s GDP. The parliamentary committee on budget and finance warned that the debt is growing dangerously. A spokesperson for the ministry of finance said the debt level is still under control. Kyrgyzstan’s economy, like the rest of the region, has been undermined by a fall in the value of its currency.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 297, published on Sept. 23 2016)

Kyrgyz security forces foil bomb attacks

SEPT. 21 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan’s National Security Service said it had defused two bombs in a shop in central Bishkek, preventing a terror attack. It didn’t say which group was allegedly behind the bombs. Kyrgyzstan is on high alert after a car bomb was driven through the gates of the Chinese embassy in Bishkek last month in a suicide attack later blamed on militant Uyghurs. The extremist group IS has also publicly stepped up its recruitment drive in Kyrgyzstan.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 297, published on Sept. 23 2016)

Kyrgyz miner names new non-executive chairman

SEPT. 20 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Martin Andersson, Chaarat Gold’s largest shareholder, became non-executive chairman of the British Virgin Island-registered mining company developing gold projects in Kyrgyzstan. Mr Andersson is the owner of Labro Investments, which holds a 25.2% stake in Chaarat.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 297, published on Sept. 23 2016)

Border tension eases between Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan

SEPT. 20 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Border tensions between Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan have eased since the beginning of the month when the Uzbek army seized a telecoms and radio tower in a disputed area, media reported. Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan argue over ownership of the Kasan-Sai reservoir and the Ungar-Too mountain.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 297, published on Sept. 23 2016)

Ex- Kyrgyz President accuses US

SEPT. 15 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Ex-Kyrgyz President Askar Akayev lodged accusations of drug smuggling against NATO forces that used the Manas airbase in Kyrgyzstan for their mission in Afghanistan. US forces agreed to lease the Manas airbase in Dec. 2001 and left in June 2014.Mr Akayev served as president of Kyrgyzstan from 1990 to 2005, when he was unseated during a revolution.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 296, published on Sept. 16 2016)

Uyghurs in Kyrgyzstan worry about terrorist

BISHKEK, SEPT. 15 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The sizable Uyghur community in Kyrgyzstan’s capital is increasingly worried by being labelled as terrorists after a suicide bomb against the Chinese Embassy this month.

Local state authorities described a suicide bomber as a member of the so-called Islamic Movement of Eastern Turkestan which wants independence for China’s eastern province of Xinjiang. Now local Uyghurs have said that they are worried about the impact the suicide bomb will have on relations with ordinary Kyrgyz.

“Honestly, I did not understand what the reason for this terror act was,” Malika, 23, a Uyghur working in a Bishkek market, told The Bulletin. “It’s bad that people think of Uyghurs as terrorists.”

There are more than 60,000 ethnic Uyghurs living in Kyrgyzstan, most working in trade and business. They are generally well regarded with a reputation for staying out of politics and producing good food. Many Uyghurs work in local bazaars where they sell fabrics from China.

There are also significant Uyghur communities in Kyrgyzstan’s east which borders China and in Kazakhstan.

The Chinese have blamed Uyghurs for a series of attacks in Xinjiang province over the past few years but this is the first attack against a Chinese target in Central Asia.

There have not previously been indicators that the Uyghur community in Central Asia was particularly militant and the suicide attacks appeared to have shocked and surprised them as much as they did the Kyrgyz authorities.

“Why? What is the reason for this attack? All my relatives are talking about it right now,” said Ikhtiyar, 22, with a note of exasperation.

“I do not think that attitudes to Uyghurs will be changed now. Right- minded people understand that terrorism does not have nationality.”

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 296, published on Sept. 16 2016)

Court charges with espionage former Kyrgyz PM’s son

SEPT. 10 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – A court in Bishkek sentenced Altynbek Muraliyev, son of former Kyrgyz PM Amangeldi Muraliyev, to 22 years in prison for treason and espionage, toughening its previous sentence of 12 years in prison. Muraliyev was arrested in November 2014, while attempting to flee Kyrgyzstan. The National Security Service said he had given classified information to foreign governments.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 296, published on Sept. 16 2016)

Kyrgyz court jails IS recruitors

SEPT. 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – A Kyrgyz court sentenced two women to six and seven years in prison after they tried to recruit another woman to join the IS extremist group in Syria. The prosecutor also said that the brother of one of the women was currently fighting in Syria. Kyrgyzstan and other countries in Central Asia are increasingly worried about a rise in IS recruitment in the region.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 296, published on Sept. 16 2016)

Kyrgyzstan blames Uyghurs for Chinese embassy attack

BISHKEK, SEPT. 6 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — – Kyrgyzstan’s Security Service accused Uyghur militants of organising an attack on the Chinese embassy in Bishkek in last month.

Specifically the Security Service said the Uyghur group that financed the attack was based out of Syria, suggesting a potential link with the extremist IS group.

The attacker, the only casualty of the attack, was identified as an Uyghur with a Tajik passport who was linked to the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) separatist group.

Chinese officials said they were satisfied with Kyrgyzstan’s findings and that they consider militant Uyghurs, an ethnic group based mainly in China’s western region of Xinjiang province, to be a terrorist organisation.

“I want to stress that East Turkestan terrorist forces representing ETIM have planned and carried out many terrorist incidents targeting China inside and outside the country and committed bloody crimes,” Reuters reported Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying as saying.

Uyghur groups have said that they are now worried that China will use the attack in Bishkek to crackdown on Uyghurs. They say that the Chinese repress them and their culture.

There are significant Uyghur groups living in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. A Canadian diplomatic report in 2012 said that 50,000 lived in Kyrgyzstan.

Last week, a suicide bomber drove a car through the gates of the Chinese embassy in Bishkek, the first direct attack against China’s diplomatic missions in Central Asia and the South Caucasus.

The Security Service said that the support network for the attacker was local, as the car belonged to an ethnic Uzbek with a Tajik passport living in Osh, southern Kyrgyzstan.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 295, published on Sept. 9 2016)

Pakistan wants Turkmenistan more involved in CASA-1000

SEPT. 7 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Pakistan said it wanted Turkmenistan to be more involved in the CASA-1000 electricity transmission project and drop plans to build an alternative electricity supply route. CASA-1000 is a World Bank-backed $1.2b plan to bring electricity from Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan to Afghanistan and Pakistan. Turkmenistan has pledged to either join the project or supply electricity to Pakistan via alternative routes.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 295, published on Sept. 9 2016)