Tag Archives: security

Tajikistan and Uzbekistan squabble over railway

JAN. 13 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Languishing on the Tajik-Uzbek border are dozens of railway wagons laden with food, fuel and building material bound for Tajikistan. There are plenty of potential flashpoints in Central Asia, but this backlog of railway wagons is potentially one of the most dangerous.

The Tajik authorities say that the Uzbeks are deliberately stopping the wagons from completing their journey and that this threatens to trigger a famine.

The Uzbeks counter that an important bridge which crosses the border has been washed away and it is not possible for the wagons to enter Tajikistan.

This bickering is not new. Relations between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan have been strained for most of the region’s 20 year post-Soviet history. At the source of the tension is the countries’ interlinked water-energy dynamic. While the Tajik Pamir Mountains provide vital water for Uzbek agriculture and industry, Uzbekistan provides power and transport links for Tajikistan.

But recently, to the frustration of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan (with Iranian help) has been building new dams across a major river.

The dams change the relationship between Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. They will reduce Tajikistan’s reliance on Uzbekistan for its power and, importantly, also increase its control of water supply to downstream Uzbekistan.

There are other issues to add to this combustible mix including US transport contracts and personal animosity between the countries’ leaders. All this make the railway wagons on the Uzbek-Tajik border an issue to watch.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 72, published on Jan. 13 2012)

Georgian sailors freed in Somalia

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JAN. 8 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Somali pirates freed 15 Georgian sailors and three Turkish sailors they captured in the Gulf of Aden in Sept. 2010, Georgia’s government said. Georgian officials did not say why the sailors were released or whether a $9m ransom was paid.

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(News report from Issue No. 72, published on Jan. 13 2012)

Another Georgian soldier dies in Afghanistan

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JAN. 6 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Taliban forces killed a Georgian solider in Afghanistan, the 12th to die supporting NATO operations, Georgia’s government said. The solider was the second Georgian solider to die in a week. Georgia’s troop deployment in Afghanistan is one of the biggest by a non-NATO member.

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(News report from Issue No. 72, published on Jan. 13 2012)

Tajikistan rows with Uzbekistan over gas

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JAN. 4 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Local media quoted the head of the Tajik foreign ministry’s information department, Daviat Nazri, saying Uzbekistan had cut off gas to Tajikistan. The Uzbek authorities have not commented. Tajikistan and Uzbekistan have been locked in a protracted row about energy and food supplies.

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(News report from Issue No. 71, published on Jan. 5 2012)

Georgia and South Ossetia exchange prisoners

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DEC. 30 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia exchanged 13 prisoners with the rebel state of South Ossetia, the largest swap since the end of a war in Aug. 2008. The OSCE and the European Union brokered prisoner swaps are considered an important step in restoring trust. In Feb. 2011, the sides exchanged 11 prisoners each.

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(News report from Issue No. 71, published on Jan. 5 2012)

US diplomat leaves Azerbaijan post

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JAN. 1 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – The United States has started 2012 without a permanent ambassador in Azerbaijan.

US senators have to approve new ambassadors and a pro-Armenia group blocked the permanent appointment of Matthew Bryza, an experienced south Caucasus diplomat, as President Barack Obama’s envoy in Baku.

Mr Bryza was able to serve one year as temporary ambassador in Azerbaijan but he left the country on Jan. 3 2012 after his supporters failed to persuade the pro-Armenia group to drop its objections.

At the heart of the issue is Nagorno-Karabakh, the mountainous slither of land wedged between Azerbaijan and Armenia which the countries fought over after the 1991 break-up of the Soviet Union.

A 1994 ceasefire holds but Azerbaijan and Armenia are still technically at war and although Mr Bryza specialised in the South Caucasus as US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Eurasian Affairs between 2005 and 2010, the pro-Armenia lobby say he and his Turkish wife are too close to Ilham Aliyev, Azerbaijan’s president, to be unbiased.

The international spotlight falls on Azerbaijan, and inevitably its human rights record, in 2012 when it hosts the Eurovision Song Contest and, with its increasing importance to European energy supplies and NATO logistics in Afghanistan, the US needs to decide on a permanent representative in Baku soon.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 71, published on Jan. 5 2012)

Georgian solider dies in Afghanistan

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JAN. 1 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – A blast killed a Georgian soldier in Afghanistan, the 11th to die supporting the US-led war, the government said. Georgia currently has 900 soldiers in Afghanistan, one of the biggest from a non-NATO member. One of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili’s main ambitions is to join NATO.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 71, published on Jan. 5 2012)

Election brings instability in Georgia’s breakaway South Ossetia

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DEC. 10 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Political instability from a disputed Nov. 27 presidential election continues to stalk the Georgian breakaway region of South Ossetia.

After 10 days of protests the disqualified winner of the election Alla Dzhioyeva, a former education minister, agreed to call off further demonstrations.

In the deal Eduard Kokoity resigned as president on Dec. 10 and Ms Dzhioyeva will be allowed to challenge the Kremlin-backed candidate Anatoly Bibilov, the emergencies minister, in an election re-run in March. PM Vadim Brotsev will become the interim president.

Ms Dzhioyeva had shocked the Kremlin by winning around 56% of the vote in a second round run-off against Mr Bibilov. Both support close ties with Moscow but Ms Dzhioyeva ran a vigorous campaign against corruption while Mr Bibilov’s campaign appeared lacklustre and complacent.

A few days after the election, though, South Ossetia’s central election commission annulled the vote and banned Ms Dzhioyeva from a re-run for apparently bribing voters. She denied this.

South Ossetia, a mountainous sliver of land of 70,000 people, is awash with weapons and violence is never far below the surface. Since a 2008 war with Georgia, Russia has recognised the independence of South Ossetia and the other Georgian breakaway region of Abkhazia.

Politicians in Georgia have likened the in-fighting to two squabbling mafia groups.

But social and political tension in South Ossetia and Abkhazia matters. It can spread easily and warm up one of the South Caucasus’ so-called frozen conflicts.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 69, published on Dec. 14 2011)

Kazakh police battle militants near Almaty

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DEC. 3 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Elite Kazakh police battled suspected Islamic militants in a village outside Almaty. In the gun battle two police and five militants died. The battle was the latest violence linked to Islamic militants this year in Kazakhstan and in Almaty police have started to detain and interrogate men with links to Islam.

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(News report from Issue No. 68, published on Dec. 8 2011)

Azerbaijan seeks defecnce links with Iran

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DEC. 2 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Iran’s state news agency IRNA quoted the Azerbaijani military attaché to Tehran, Mehman Suleymanov, saying Azerbaijan wants to strengthen ties with Iran and in particular defence ties. Azerbaijan’s defence minister is due in Tehran at the start of 2012.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 68, published on Dec. 8 2011)