Tag Archives: Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyzstan’s conclusive election marks an example for Central Asia

OCT. 30 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Almazbek Atambayev, Kyrgyzstan’s pro-Russia PM and a northern favourite, won a presidential election with around 63% of the vote.

This comprehensive first round victory avoided a potentially divisive second round run-off. His main southern opponents, though, criticised the legitimacy of his larger-than-expected victory and pledged to contest it in the courts and on the streets.

Politics in Kyrgyzstan, Central Asia’s least stable country, splits along clan and family loyalties. Mr Atambayev and his opponents now need to show real leadership to control their supporters and quickly snuff out any signs of post-election violence.

Since 2005, Kyrgyzstan has suffered two revolutions and a bout of ethnic fighting that killed more than 400 people. It now desperately needs stability.

Although international observers criticised some aspects of the voting process, it was a genuinely contested election — a rarity in Central Asia.

And it was also a genuinely historic milestone in the region’s 20-year post-Soviet history. It marks the first time a sitting president has willingly and peacefully relinquished power.

The outgoing president, Roza Otunbayeva, took power in April 2010 as interim leader after a revolution. She always said she would give up power at a presidential election. Now she is making good on that promise. In a region dominated by autocratic male leaders who first tasted power during the Soviet Union, Ms Otunbayeva is a shining example.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 63, published on Nov. 1 2011)

Kyrgyzstan sets an end date for the US airbase

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NOV. 1 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – In his first policy statement after winning a presidential election, Kyrgyzstan’s pro-Russia PM Almazbek Atambayev said the US will have to quit an airbase outside Bishkek when its lease expires in 2014. The airbase has been vital to NATO efforts in Afghanistan which also wind up in 2014.

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(News report from Issue No. 63, published on Nov. 1 2011)

Azerbaijan wins, Kyrgyzstan misses UN seat

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OCT. 24 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan won a two-year seat at the UN Security Council for the first time after defeating Slovenia to represent the Eastern Europe bloc. Kyrgyzstan failed to defeat Pakistan for the Arab-Asia bloc’s second non-permanent seat at the Security Council.

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(News report from Issue No. 62, published on Oct. 25 2011)

Kyrgyzstan’s investment climate takes another turn for the worse

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OCT. 16 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – By Oct. 13 2011 Talas Copper Gold, a Kyrgyz gold mining company, had had enough.

After raiders on horseback had firebombed its camp in a remote part of northern Kyrgyzstan and local officials linked to its project had received death threats, the company decided to postpone further gold exploration. It had simply become too dangerous.

Talas Copper Gold, may only be a relatively small operation but the impact is significant and will echo around investors looking at Kyrgyzstan. The attacks bear the hallmarks of organised crime.

A joint venture between a British company Orsu Metals (40%) and South Africa’s Gold Fields (60%), Talas Copper Gold is the sort of operation Kyrgyzstan needs to lift its economy.

Foreign investors may be essential for Kyrgyzstan but their choice of investment sectors is limited. After water, gold is one of the most abundant natural resource. Kumtor, a gold miner owned by Canada’s Centerra Gold, contributes around 7% of Kyrgyzstan’s national income.

But two revolutions since 2005, ethnic violence last summer that killed roughly 400 people and a change of constitution, make Kyrgyzstan a risky place for foreign investors. Raids and death threats organised by local crime gangs looking for extra revenue often make it just too difficult to operate.

Perhaps most disturbing is that Talas Copper Gold’s experience is not unique. There have been several other cases of raiders on horseback attacking foreign gold prospectors this year.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 61, published on Oct. 18 2011)

Kyrgyzstan bids for a UN Security Council seat

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OCT. 18 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan is competing with Pakistan for a non-permanent seat at the UN Security Council. The vote for who wins the seat for 2012-13 will take place on Oct. 21 2011 and it is expected to be close. If Kyrgyzstan — backed by the US, according to some commentators — does win, it will be the first ex-Soviet Central Asian nation on the UN Security Council.

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(News report from Issue No. 61, published on Oct. 18 2011)

Security concerns grow in Kyrgyzstan

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OCT. 10 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyz security services arrested 11 people during a nationwide anti-terrorist operation just three weeks before a presidential election. The head of the state’s national security committee, Keneshbek Dushebayev, later said militant Islamists linked to al Qaeda planned to attack during the election.

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(News report from Issue No. 60, published on Oct. 11 2011)

Kyrgyz-Russian company to fuel Manas

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SEPT. 27 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – A joint venture between a Kyrgyz company and Russia’s Gazprom will begin deliveries of jet fuel in November to the US airbase at Manas outside Bishkek, the US ambassador to Kyrgyzstan, Pamela Spratlen, told media. The Kyrgyz-Russian JV will supply 50% of the fuel to Manas, a vital supply hub for NATO forces in Afghanistan.

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(News report from Issue No. 59, published on Oct. 4 2011)

Putin’s Eurasian Union shapes up

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OCT. 4 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – So it’s finally official. The Kremlin sees the Russia-Belarus-Kazakhstan Customs Union as a tool for further integration.

In an article for the newspaper Izvestiya on Oct. 4, Russian PM Vladimir Putin wrote of his vision for a Eurasian Union based around Moscow’s leadership emerging from the customs union. The timing of this article underlined its importance. This was Mr Putin’s first major policy statement since Sept. 24, 2011 when he said he would return as Russian president.

For Central Asia, but not yet for the South Caucasus, the customs union is already important. Kazakhstan is an enthusiastic member, Kyrgyzstan has officially applied to join and Tajikistan is thinking about it.

Russia uses the customs union as a bulwark against the growing influence of China and the West in Central Asia, a region it considers to be its natural sphere of influence.

Although Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan may be able to afford to resist, for Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan it has become politically and economically important to join the customs union.

Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev can also claim to have been the first to float the idea of a Eurasian Union. He mentioned the concept during a speech at a Moscow university in 1994.

Now, 17 years later, this Eurasian Union is gaining momentum.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 59, published on Oct. 4 2011)

Kazakhstan supplies cheap gas to Kyrgyzstan

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SEPT. 28 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan will buy gas from Kazakhstan at half the price it had been paying Uzbekistan, media quoted Kyrgyz acting deputy PM Omurbek Babanov as saying. In return, Kyrgyzstan has agreed to increase electricity supplies to southern Kazakhstan. There has been constant friction between Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan over gas and water supplies.

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(News report from Issue No. 59, published on Oct. 4 2011)

Kyrgyzstan applies to join the Customs Union

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SEPT. 23 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan has applied to join the Russia-Belarus-Kazakhstan customs union, Bloomberg quoted Russian first deputy PM Igor Shuvalov as saying. Kyrgyzstan has hinted throughout the year it wants to join the union which some analysts say is a Russian ploy to pull in its former Soviet neighbours.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 58, published on Sept. 27 2011)