MAY 5 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Russia has re-started talks with Tajikistan on stationing 3,000 guards along the important Tajik-Afghan border, Reuters reported. Russia, the US and China are competing for influence in Central Asia. Russian soldiers patrolled the border until 2005.
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(News report from Issue No. 39, published on May 9 2011)
APRIL 28 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – On a trip to Turkey, Kyrgyz PM Almazbek Atambayev hinted he was looking beyond the US use of the Manas airbase. Manas, outside Bishkek, has become a major cog in the US resupply chain for its forces in Afghanistan. Mr Atambayev said he wanted to turn Manas, already an international airport, into a major global transit centre.
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(News report from Issue No. 38, published on May 2 2011)
APRIL 21 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s parliament scrapped a five-year agreement signed in 2006 that allowed the Russian military to cross its territory to resupply a base in Armenia. Since the 2008 Russia-Georgia war, Russia has used other routes to re-supply its base in Armenia.
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(News report from Issue No. 37, published on April 25 2011)
MARCH 24 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – A document released by the German parliament showed Germany had paid Uzbekistan for the use of a military base while EU sanctions were imposed in 2005-9. The EU imposed sanctions after Uzbek soldiers killed protesters in 2005. Germany had rented the base since 2002. Rights groups have said the West places strategic interests above human rights in Central Asia.
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(News report from Issue No. 33, published on March 28 2011)
MARCH 19 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Russian news agencies quoted Kyrgyz PM Almazbek Atambayev as saying during a meeting with Russian PM Vladimir Putin that Kyrgyzstan was ready to sell 75% of its gas company, KyrgyzGas, to Russia. Russia and the US are competing for influence in Kyrgyzstan, where they each have an airbase.
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(News report from Issue No. 32, published on March 21 2011)
MARCH 7 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – In a sign of just how crucial Kyrgyzstan is to US policy in Central Asia and Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan’s President Roza Otunbayeva met with US President Barack Obama at the White House. The Manas airbase outside Bishkek is a major re-supply hub for the US mission in Afghanistan. Kyrgyzstan has said it wants to impose a $40m fuel tax on the base.
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(News report from Issue No. 31, published on March 14 2011)
FEB. 20 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – An Azeri solider shot and killed seven fellow soldiers at an army base, the fourth mass killing in Azerbaijan’s military in the last two years. The attacker was also killed in the incident. In June 2010, a soldier killed two colleagues before shooting himself.
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(News report from Issue No. 28, published on Feb. 21 2011)
FEB. 9 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – The United States signed a fuel supply deal for its Manas airbase in Kyrgyzstan which will split the lucrative contract 50:50 between a state company and the Gibraltar-registered Mina Corp. The company had been the sole supplier under the previous government, a deal criticised for its lack of transparency.
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(News report from Issue No. 27, published on Feb. 14 2011)
JAN. 11 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – An accidental blast at an army base in Georgia killed three and injured 13 soldiers. The Georgian ministry of defence said a technical error had caused a mortar bomb to explode at the Krtsanisi base where the US trains Georgians before deployment to Afghanistan.
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(News report from Issue No. 23, published on Jan. 17 2011)
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NOV. 28 2010 (The Conway Bulletin) – A confidential cable written by the US ambassador in Bishkek in Feb. 2009 to her bosses in Washington quoted Kyrgyz officials saying that China had offered Kyrgyzstan $3b to close down the US airbase outside Bishkek. The cable was one of 291 published so far by WikiLeaks.
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(News report from Issue No. 17, published on Nov. 29 2010)
