MARCH 31 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Relations between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan lurched towards breaking point after Dushanbe accused Tashkent of imposing an economic blockade around the country and trying to destabilise it. Uzbek PM Shavkat Mirziyoyev denied the accusations. Relations between the two neighbours have been strained for the past 2 years.
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(News report from Issue No. 082, published on April 6 2012)
MARCH 26 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbekistan said it will cut gas to Tajikistan as soon as the current 3-month contract ends on April 1. Uzbekistan is Tajikistan’s main gas supplier and the warning has forced Dushanbe to ask Ashgabat to fill the deficit. Relations between Uzbekistan and Tajikistan have been strained for years.
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(News report from Issue No. 081, published on March 30 2012)
MARCH 6 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Tajik ministry of communications ordered internet providers to block access to Facebook and two other websites which had published an article critical of President Emomali Rakhmon, sources told Reuters. Media groups accuse Central Asian governments of manipulating the internet by blocking certain sites.
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(News report from Issue No. 080, published on March 8 2012)
FEB. 27 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – With inflation easing, the Tajik Central Bank cut interest rates to 9% from 9.8%. Reuters reported that inflation in Tajikistan averaged 9.3% in 2011 compared to 9.8% in 2010. Analysts had identified rising inflation as a potentially destabilising factor in Tajikistan.
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(News report from Issue No. 079, published on March 1 2012)
FEB. 9 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – France’s defence minister, Gerard Longuet, told the magazine L’Orient Le-Jour that NATO’s logistics route through Central Asia is too expensive. NATO has earmarked the route, dubbed the Northern Distribution Network, as the best way of withdrawing soldiers and kit in 2014 from Afghanistan.
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(News report from Issue No. 77, published on Feb. 16 2012)
FEB. 1 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Media freedom rankings by the France-based NGO Reporters Without Borders reflect another tough year for local journalists in Central Asia and the South Caucasus.
Turkmenistan retains its standard position at the bottom of the 179-country list, just above North Korea and Eritrea, underlining its reputation as one of the world’s most repressive states. Twenty places above Turkmenistan is Uzbekistan, also in familiar territory.
But this year, between Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, sliding 10 places to 162nd is Azerbaijan.
In 2011, the authorities in Azerbaijan quashed anti-government protests and imprisoned journalists and bloggers. In November a prominent Azerbaijani journalist was also murdered in Baku.
Reporters Without Borders called Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev a “predator” of the media.
“Violence is back in a big way there, with threats, beatings and abduction of opposition journalists,” the report said.
The report was compiled between Dec. 1 2010 and Nov. 30 2011, before the Kazakh authorities’ crackdown on media after riots in the west of the country.
Even so, Kazakhstan comes in at 154th position and looks set to slip in the next rankings.
Armenia enjoys the most media freedom in the region. In 77th position it has regained ground lost after opposition protests and a state-of-emergency in 2008.
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(News report from Issue No. 75, published on Feb. 2 2012)
JAN. 24 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Police in Tajikistan detained several high-profile anti-narcotics officials for allegedly helping drug smugglers dodge the security services, local media reported. The arrests highlight the extent of corruption in Tajikistan and the collusion between the drug runners and senior officials.
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(News report from Issue No. 74, published on Jan. 26 2012)
JAN. 18 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – In its annual growth forecasts, the World Bank said weakening markets in the West would hit the developing world in 2012. For 2012 growth forecasts for Central Asia and the South Caucasus were: Tajikistan 6%, Kyrgyzstan 5.5%, Kazakhstan 5.5%, Uzbekistan 8%, Turkmenistan N/A, Azerbaijan 3.1%, Georgia 5%, Armenia 4.3%.
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(News report from Issue No. 73, published on Jan. 19 2012)
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.
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(News report from Issue No. 72, published on Jan. 13 2012)
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)
