FEB. 4 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — It’s been a bad week for senior officials in Tajikistan. Media reported that a court in Dushanbe had sent the daughter-in-law of a senior Tajik diplomat to prison for 12-1/2 years for drug smuggling and that President Emomali Rakhmon had sacked the head of the Tajik railway company after his son was involved in a deadly crash.
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(News report from Issue No. 170, published on Feb. 5 2014)
JAN. 20 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Reports from the Kyrgyzstan-Tajikistan border said tension remained high between the two sides following a shootout that injured several soldiers earlier this month. Radio Free Europe also reported that Kyrgyzstan had called up reservists living in the area for a three day military exercise.
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(News report from Issue No. 168, published on Jan. 22 2014)
JAN. 11 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Border guards from Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan fired at each other in a relatively rare skirmish. Several soldiers from both sides were injured in the firefight, media reported, and Kyrgyzstan later recalled its ambassador from Dushanbe. Tension has been escalating along the Kyrgyz-Tajik border for months.
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(News report from Issue No. 167, published on Jan. 15 2014)
JAN. 13 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Tajikistan cut its key interest rate to a record low of 4.8% to combat falling inflation, media reported quoting the Central Bank. It previously cut the key interest rate to 5.5% in October 2013. Falling inflation, marking slower economic growth, is a major concern for Central Banks in the South Caucasus and Central Asia.
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(News report from Issue No. 167, published on Jan. 15 2014)
JAN. 3 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Police in Iran arrested Babak Zanjani, one of Tajikistan’s most prominent businessmen, for money laundering, media reported. Mr Zanjani, an associate of Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon, is a native Iranian but had invested millions into Tajikistan, raising concern that he was laundering cash through the country.
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(News report from Issue No. 166, published on Jan. 8 2014)
DEC. 9 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Asian Development Bank, based in Manila, has agreed to give Tajikistan $136m to upgrade one of its biggest hydropower plants, media reported. This is the largest single ADB loan to Tajikistan. Tajikistan is heavily reliant on hydropower for its electricity. There are frequent shortages during winter.
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(News report from Issue No. 164, published on Dec. 11 2013)
NOV. 30 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon continued his cabinet re-shuffle after winning an election last month by replacing the foreign minister, finance minister and transport minister. Media also reported that Mr Rakhmon had promoted his son to head the Customs Committee, a lucrative post in corruption-rife Tajikistan.
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(News report from Issue No. 163, published on Dec. 4 2013)
NOV. 20 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Tajikistan’s President Emomali Rakhmon replaced his long-serving defence minister Sherali Khairulloyev less than a year before NATO withdraws from neighbouring Afghanistan.
The West and Russia are relying on Tajikistan to buffer the spread north of the Taliban after US-led forces leave Afghanistan and the dismissal of Mr Khairulloyev may concern them.
Russia is particularly worried about Taliban encroachment into Central Asia and has boosted its military contingent in Tajikistan. The 65-year-old Mr Khairulloyev had been defence minister in Tajikistan since 1995. Sherali Mirzo, head of Tajikistan’s Border Guards Service and 20 years his junior, will replace him. No reason was given for the change.
Mr Khairulloyev’s notoriety is not limited to being Tajikistan’s defence minister. He shot to fame in 2010 as the star of one of the more entertaining US diplomatic cables released by Wikileaks. A 2006 memo written by the then US ambassador to Dushanbe described a drinking session with Mr Khairulloyev.
“By the end of the alcohol-sodden lunch, the minister (Mr Khairulloyev) was slurring and unsteady on his feet,” the memo read. The memo importantly recorded that even in 2006 Mr Khairulloyev said he expected to be fired by Mr Rakhmon at any moment.
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(News report from Issue No. 162, published on Nov. 27 2013)
NOV. 18 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Police in Tajikistan have confiscated religious literature from Muslims, Protestants and Jehovah Witnesses this year, the Forum 18 news agency reported. It said that many of the people who carried the literature were fined for carrying banned religious texts.
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(News report from Issue No. 161, published on Nov. 20 2013)
NOV. 13 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Russia will upgrade and strengthen its military base in Tajikistan to coincide with the withdrawal of NATO forces from Afghanistan, media reported quoting Sergei Shoigu, Russia’s defence minister. Russia has said it is worried about the spread north of the Taliban once US-led forces leave Afghanistan.
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(News report from Issue No. 161, published on Nov. 20 2013)
