AUG. 23 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – A court in Dushanbe sentenced Ravshanbek Mirzoakhmadov, a senior Tajik anti-drug smuggling official, to 18 years in jail for drug smuggling, media reported. The sentence highlights just how invasive drug smuggling has become through Tajikistan’s bureaucracy.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 102, published on Aug. 24 2012)
AUG. 13 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tolib Ayombekov, the warlord attacked by Tajik government forces last month, has surrendered, media reported. Nearly 50 people died in the fighting in the south-east of Tajikistan. The authorities accused men linked to Mr Ayombekov of killing an intelligence officer and drug smuggling. He denies the charges.
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(News report from Issue No. 101, published on Aug. 17 2012)
AUG. 17 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – At the Olympic Games in London, Kazakhstan wanted to beat their previous best medals haul of three golds from both Atlanta in 1996 and Sydney in 2000. They did, easily, with seven gold medals in cycling, weightlifting, long jump and boxing.
Kazakhstan was placed twelfth in the rankings, with the same gold medal haul as Australia. For the others, the Games were less successful.
Turkmenistan failed to win a medal and one of its boxing referees was sent home after
failing to stop a one-sided fight. An Uzbek gymnast faced even greater humiliation after she was disqualified for doping. Uzbekistan did win one gold medal in the men’s wrestling. There were no golds for either Kyrgyzstan or Tajikistan, although a Tajik woman won a boxing bronze.
Azerbaijan had talked up their boxing hopes before the Games but the best it could manage was a bronze medal. They also had one coach sent home for cheating. In wrestling Azerbaijan won two golds along with another two silver and three bronze medals.
Georgia won its gold medal in judo . Neighbouring Armenia won three medals, but no gold.
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(News report from Issue No. 101, published on Aug. 17 2012)
AUG. 8 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – In the aftermath of fighting in the south of the country, media reported that Tajik authorities had blocked access to various news websites including the Russian-language version of the BBC, Russia’s RIA-Novosti and Asia Plus, a local news agency.
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(News report from Issue No. 100, published on Aug. 10 2012)
AUG. 3 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Rebel fighters in south-east Tajikistan handed over hundreds of weapons in a cease-fire agreed with government forces after fighting on July 24 killed dozens of fighters and some civilians. Media reported, though, that although fighting had ceased, the main rebel commander, Tolib Ayombekov, has refused to give himself up.
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(News report from Issue No. 099, published on Aug. 3 2012)
JULY 24 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Officially at least 42 soldiers and rebel fighters died when Tajik government forces launched an assault against rebels in the south-east region of Gorno-Badakhshan.
It was the worst fighting in Tajikistan since 2010, when soldiers fought alleged Islamic militants along a valley in a different part of the country.
The government said the trigger for the assault was the murder of a military general three days earlier. Some analysts, though, have suggested the government may have been looking to launch this attack for some time.
Regardless, the fighting shows that government control over the fringes of Tajikistan is, at best, tenuous. President Emomali Rahkmon supposedly cemented his control over Tajikistan at the end of a civil war in 1997. The reality is that this authority, softened by the drugs trade and local factions, is often weak.
This is alarming for Central Asian states and Russia which need Tajikistan to act as a barrier against militant Islamists from Afghanistan. NATO is packing up and beginning to withdraw.
Despite pouring soldiers and helicopter gunships into Gorno-Badakhshan, government forces failed to dislodge the rebels, once again underlining the extent of central government’s power.
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(News report from Issue No. 098, published on July 27 2012)
JULY 12/13 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan has agreed to help finance and build Tajikistan’s first oil refinery, media reported after talks between Tajik president Emomali Rakhmon and Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev in Baku. Tajikistan imports all its oil products, 90% of them from Russia.
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(News report from Issue No. 097, published on July 20 2012)
JULY 18 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Sources in the Tajik government told Reuters news agency that Tajikistan and Russia were on the brink of agreeing a new 49-year lease on Russia’s military base in the Pamirs. The source said Russia would not have to pay the $250m that Tajikistan had asked for and would instead pay with arms.
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(News report from Issue No. 097, published on July 20 2012)
JULY 12 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – The long-running saga over extending the lease on the Russian military base in Tajikistan may have entered its end-game. Tajikistan demanded an annual lease of $250m from Russia for the base, one of its biggest overseas outposts, media reported. Under the current contract Russia pays with military assistance.
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(News report from Issue No. 096, published on July 13 2012)
JULY 3 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Indian foreign minister Somanahalli Krishna visited Dushanbe for two days of talks. Indian media reported that he was the first Indian foreign minister to visit Dushanbe for nine years. Mr Krishna met with his Tajik counterpart, Hamrokhon Zafiria, and discussed India’s growing interest in the region.
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(News report from Issue No. 095, published on July 6 2012)
