Tag Archives: security

US embassy in Dushanbe warns of attacks

NOV. 9 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The US embassy in Dushanbe issued a warning that Islamic militants were planning to attack large gatherings and kidnap people near the border with Afghanistan.

It said US citizens should avoid crowds and refrain from camping near the border.

“Terrorist groups may attempt to target large public gatherings and/or border crossings with Afghanistan,” it said in a statement.

The warnings comes a month after a similar warning was released in Kyrgyzstan. Governments in Central Asia have been worried both by a rise in the intensity of recruitment drives by the IS extremist group and by the encroachment north of the Taliban.

The US embassy did not give any more details of the threats or what had triggered the warning.

Media later quoted an official from the Tajik government as saying that the warning was overblown and that there was no threat to Tajiks or foreigners.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 304, published on Nov. 11 2016)

Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan patch up border disputes

BISHKEK, OCT. 31 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Delegations from Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan met to agree solutions to 49 long-running border disputes around the Ferghana Valley which, earlier this year, had threatened to tip into conflict.

The agreements mark the next stage in an unprecedented and surprising detente between the two rivals since Uzbek PM Shavkat Mirizyoyev was appointed acting president after the death of Islam Karimov in September.

This was the second of two meetings between the Uzbek and Kyrgyz deputy PMs. A third meeting is scheduled before the end of the year.

Bishkek-based analyst Elmira Nogoybaeva said the change in attitude in Tashkent was welcome but that Kyrgyzstan would need to see whether this was a genuine change of heart or a temporary fad.

“Such meetings are always welcomed by Kyrgyzstan, the question is how long will they last,” she said. “We all look to these meetings with optimism.”

The Ferghana Valley lies at the heart of Central Asia and analysts have previously said that if tension between Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan over borders boils over into conflict, and this year there have been reports of Kyrgyz and Uzbek soldiers squaring up to each other, it will pull the whole region into war.

In Bishkek, people were optimistic. Ainagul, 43, said it was a positive but there would be problems ahead.

“Of course, it is good that borders are being delineated, now Kyrgyz people will know to whom territory belongs, and it will prevent conflict between Kyrgyz and Uzbek,” she said. “I still doubt though that conflicts on borders will stop altogether as we still have problems even on the Kyrgyz- Kazakh border which was supposed to have been delineated.”

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 303, published on Nov. 4 2016)

Kazakh court sentences man to death

NOV. 2 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — A court in Almaty sentenced Ruslan Kulekbayev to death for killing 10 people during a shooting spree earlier this year. Like Russia, Kazakhstan has a moratorium on the death sentence and Kulekbayev will instead serve a life sentence. If the moratorium is lifted, though, he will be placed on Death Row. Kulekbayev had previously said that his shooting spree in July, which started with the murder of a prostitute in the southern city of Shymkent, was a personal form of revenge against a society which he felt had rejected him. The court, though, said that he was an Islamic extremist.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 303, published on Nov. 4 2016)

Man blows himself up in Georgian region

OCT. 17 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – A man blew himself up outside the headquarters of the TV station in the breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia. Reports were unclear on whether the bomb was a suicide or the man was targeting the TV station itself. Abkhazia and South Ossetia broke away in 2008 after a brief war between Georgia and Russia. Russia recognises their independence.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 301, published on Oct. 21 2016)

Armenia approves missile deal with Russia

OCT. 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia’s parliament approved a missile defence deal with Russia that will mean it relies increasingly heavily on the Kremlin for its defences, media reported. Russia already maintains a large military base in Armenia, seen as essential for keeping its various enemies (mainly Azerbaijan and Turkey) at arms length. Importantly, officials also said that the missile defence deal with Russia did not cover the region of Nagorno-Karabakh which Armenia disputes with Azerbaijan.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 301, published on Oct. 21 2016)

Kazakhstan looks to ban Salafism

ALMATY, OCT. 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan appeared to signal that it would ban Salafism, a form of Islam, after its new minister for religious affairs, Nurlan Yermekbayev, described it as “unacceptable”.

Mr Yermekbayev’s comments, at his first press conference as minister for religious freedom, will strengthen analysts’ views that the ministry, created last month, was designed to clamp down on religious freedom.

“We consider that for Kazakhstan, Salafism is an unacceptable and destructive religious movement. In

general, Kazakhstan’s society has a negative attitude to this alien understanding of faith, leading to radicalism,” the official Astana Times newspaper quoted him as saying.

“Our future work will focus on preventing the spread of literature and the work of the websites promoting the ideology of Salafism.”

Salafism is an ultra-conservative form of Islam that has its roots in Egypt. It has been blamed for the spread of radical Islam.

Previously, Wahhabism, has been blamed for encouraging a series of terrorist attacks in Kazakhstan and banned by the government.

But Kazakh officials have now blamed a series of gun attacks in Aktobe, in the west of the country, in June on a group of Salafists.

Kazakhstan, like its neighbours, has been clamping down on pious Muslims, increasingly worried that they are destabilising the country and acting as a possible fifth column.

Human rights groups have described the clamp-downs as attacks on human rights and free speech.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 301, published on Oct. 21 2016)

Alleged coup-plotter in Kazakhstan rejects accusations

OCT. 17 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – In his trial for allegedly funding an attempted coup earlier this year in Kazakhstan, Shymkent-based businessman Tokhtar Tuleshov said that although he had given protesters demonstrating against land reforms $100,000, he had not intended to organise an overthrow of the government. A screenshot of Mr Tuleshov, once one of the richest men in Kazakhstan whose wealth was built on brewing beer, showed him in handcuffs looking gaunt while he gave evidence to the court in Astana via a video-link.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 301, published on Oct. 21 2016)

High-profile trial takes place in Kazakhstan

OCT. 18 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The trial of a group of 29 men who attacked various targets including a police outpost and killed eight people in June started in Aktobe, in the western Mangistau region, under intense security. The men are accused of having links to radical Islam. The authorities in Kazakhstan have grown increasingly wary of radical Islam.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 301, published on Oct. 21 2016)

Uzbek officials sentence islamists

OCT. 20 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – A court in the Ferghana Valley,east Uzbekistan, sentenced five men to up to nine years in prison for setting up an extremist Islamic cell, media reported. Uzbekistan and other countries in Central Asia have been cracking down on radical Islam although human rights groups have said these crack downs are being used as a pretext for curbing basic rights. Reports said that the group was trying to spread extremist propaganda and that they planned to overthrow the government. No more details were given.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 301, published on Oct. 21 2016)

Tajikistan starts military exercises with China

OCT. 20 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tajikistan and China start joint military exercises on the Tajik-Afghan border. The exercises come a month after China announced that it was going to build a network of border posts along the Tajikistan-Afghanistan border. It is increasingly worried about security along the southern fringe of Central Asia. In August a suicide bomber attacked the Chinese embassy in Bishkek.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 301, published on Oct. 21 2016)