MARCH 21 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia offered to send two military officers to support a 500-man EU force heading to Mali to train government forces fighting Islamic radicals. Georgia’s offer is significant as it is an extension of its policy to support US-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Georgia wants to join both NATO and the EU.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 128, published on March 22 2013)
MARCH 19 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Russian newspaper Kommersant reported that Tajikistan wants Russia to guarantee funding for hydropower equipment in return for extending the lease on its military base. Last year Russia and Tajikistan agreed a 40 year extension to the Russian military base, an issue that had strained relations.
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(News report from Issue No. 128, published on March 22 2013)
FEB. 13 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – The UK will hand over military vehicles such as Land Rovers and trucks worth $700,000 to the Uzbek authorities in return for permission to extract its military equipment from Afghanistan across Uzbekistan in 2014, media reported. Rights groups have criticised deals with Uzbekistan.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 124, published on Feb. 15 2013)
FEB. 13 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – The UK will hand over military vehicles such as Land Rovers and trucks worth $700,000 to the Uzbek authorities in return for permission to extract its military equipment from Afghanistan across Uzbekistan in 2014, media reported. Rights groups have criticised deals with Uzbekistan.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 124, published on Feb. 15 2013)
FEB. 11 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – A pro-government party offered a $13,000 reward to anybody who cuts off the ear of novelist Akram Aylisli. The threat was quickly retracted but the New York-based Human Rights Watch accused pro-government factions of intimidating Mr Aylisli because his new novel is sympathetic towards Armenia, which fought Azerbaijan over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 124, published on Feb. 15 2013)
JAN. 28 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – The foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia met in Paris to discuss a solution to their dispute over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. While little substantial progress was made at the one-day meeting, foreign mediators consider getting Azerbaijan and Armenia to sit across a table as positive.
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(News report from Issue No. 122, published on Feb. 1 2013)
JAN. 18 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tajik security forces battled more militants linked to the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), which has ties to the Taliban, President Emomali Rakhmon told media. In the firefight in the north of the country, one IMU militant died and nine were arrested. There had also been a shoot-out with the IMU last week.
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(News report from Issue No. 121, published on Jan. 25 2013)
JAN. 24 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – Highlighting the institutionalised nature of the Afghanistan-Tajikistan drugs trade, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) published a story quoting US military officials accusing Kam air, the largest private Afghan airline, of ferrying opium between Kabul and Dushanbe. Kam Air denied the allegations.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 121, published on Jan. 25 2013)
JAN. 21 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – Villages in southern Kyrgyzstan are experiencing food shortages after Uzbekistan shut checkpoints running through its enclave of Sokh following rioting on Jan. 5/6, media reported. The checkpoints guard the only road linking villages in Kyrgyzstan’s impoverished Batken province to the rest of the country.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 121, published on Jan. 25 2013)
JAN. 24 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – Highlighting the institutionalised nature of the Afghanistan-Tajikistan drugs trade, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) published a story quoting US military officials accusing Kam air, the largest private Afghan airline, of ferrying opium between Kabul and Dushanbe. Kam Air denied the allegations.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 121, published on Jan. 25 2013)
