Tag Archives: Uzbekistan

Uzbek/Kazakh water politics

>>Is Kazakhstan shifting away from pro-Uzbekistan stance?>>

FEB. 11 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Astana has been a reliable supporter for Tashkent on some major regional issues over the past 20 years, backing Uzbek President Islam Karimov’s opposition to prospective Tajik and Kyrgyz hydropower dams and also deporting Uzbek asylum seekers.

But the Kazakh authorities may have recently started sending signals that suggest they want changes in Uzbekistan. For instance, Rapil Joshybayev, the Kazakh first deputy foreign minister told a group of Tajik officials in Dushanbe that Kazakhstan may have had a change of heart over the hydropower issue (Feb. 4).

“Kazakhstan is ready to consider the Tajik party’s proposals on fulfilling contracts as part of the hydropower stations construction projects,” he said.

This statement may signify a change of approach by Kazakhstan over a major piece of regional politics — the expansion of hydropower.

In short the upstream countries, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, want to build hydropower dams. The downstream countries, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, want to stop this.

These are tricky times for Uzbekistan. Next month, Uzbekistan will also have to deal with a presidential election.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 218, published on Feb. 11 2015)

Kyrgyzstan detains Uzbeks on border

FEB. 4 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kyrgyzstan detained four Uzbek nationals on their shared border, media reported. Relations between Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan have been strained over the last few years by rows over border rights and hydro-electric dams. The rows have the potential to destabilise the region.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 218, published on Feb. 11 2015)

China sells missiles to Uzbekistan

FEB. 6 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — China has sold Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan anti-aircraft missile systems, the English-language website eurasianet.org and the Uzbek website 12news.uz both reported by quoting Chinese sources. Eurasianet.org said the sale, if confirmed, would be China’s biggest ever military deal in Central Asia.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 218, published on Feb. 11 2015)

Russia says to cut Uzbek/Turkmen gas purchases

FEB. 3 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Alexander Medvedev, vice-chairman of Gazprom, Russia’s gas monopoly, said the company would cut gas it buys from Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Mr Medvedev did not specify why Gazprom had cut its orders from Turkmenistan by 60% and from Uzbekistan by 75% but it may be linked to Russia’s economic downturn.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 217, published on Feb. 4 2015)

Germany confirms Uzbek military base

JAN. 30 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — The German ambassador to Uzbekistan, Neithart Höfer-Wissing, officially confirmed that Germany was going to maintain its military base near Termez, south Uzbekistan, German media reported . A deal was made between the Uzbek and German government last year, although details were kept secret.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 217, published on Feb. 4 2015)

Germany confirms Uzbek base

JAN. 30 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — The German ambassador to Uzbekistan, Neithart Höfer-Wissing, officially confirmed that Germany was going to maintain its military base near Termez, south Uzbekistan, German media reported. A deal was made between the Uzbek and German government last year, although details were kept secret.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 217, published on Feb. 4 2015)

IS plans to attack Uzbekistan

FEB. 3 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — The radical group IS plans to attack Uzbekistan, an Uzbek security officer told centralasiaonline.com. Other media outlets broadcast the comments although analysts questioned the motive behind them. The Pentagon, which has agreed to send military kit to Uzbekistan, is linked to the website.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 217, published on Feb. 4 2015)

Russia cuts Uzbek/Turkmen gas orders

(News report from Issue No. 217, published on Feb. 4 2015)

Chinese hunt for shrimps in the Aral Sea

MO’YNOQ/Uzbekistan, FEB. 4 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Sagynbai Murzayev is a strong and gentle Soviet-made man in his 70s. He used to be a fisherman in windswept Mo’ynoq, a town in Karakalpakstan which lies on the remote western fringe of Uzbekistan. Now he works several jobs and witnesses the Chinese influx.

Mo’ynoq once lay on the shores of the Aral Sea. This sea, though, shrunk rapidly because a Soviet irrigation system siphoned off its tributaries’ waters to feed giant cotton fields.

Left behind is a lunar desert of white dunes that locals call Aralkum (Aral’s Sands).

Murzayev works at the local museum of natural history and has witnessed the retreat from the beginning. His father was also a fisherman, his mother worked in a fishery. He now gathers most of his earnings by driving foreign guests to the sea shores. Most of the visitors are Chinese.

Since 2006 an energy consortium led by China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) has been exploring oil and gas deposits below the former seabed.

Although national Uzbek publications boast about Karakalpakstan’s growth as an energy-rich region, operations in the Ustyurt Plateau seem, to Murzayev at least, to proceed at a slow pace. The few Chinese workers camping on the shoreline are mainly after a rather different and rather unusual resource for Central Asia — shrimps.

Unexcited, Murzayev looked at a Chinese trawler coming ashore.

“The indiscriminate pillage of natural resources has already been proved to be detrimental for us,” he said. “We need to bring the sea back to life and not to scavenge its dead body.”

In the distance, the town’s crumbling homes are a symbol of the small economic advantages that this uncertain oil and gas bonanza can bring to the region. And all the while the fading memories of the local fisherman who used to work on the lake grow thinner and thinner.
>>By Gianluca Pardelli
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 217, published on Feb. 4 2015)

Karimov hits 77

>>The long-serving leader needs to organise his succession>>

JAN. 30 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Known as Papa, ironically rather than for any genuine paternal feelings, Uzbek President Islam Karimov has just celebrated his 77th birthday.

He has ruled over Uzbekistan for 26 years — he came to power shortly before the 1991 break-up of the Soviet Union — meaning that half of Uzbekistan’s 30m population have only known him as their leader.

But because of Mr Karimov’s age and rumours over his health, it will soon be time to pick a new leader. Mr Karimov himself has kept his opinions close to himself but candidates from within his administration have emerged as contenders, especially now that his eldest daughter, Gulnara, has been taken out of contention.

Top of this list is probably Rustam Inoyatov, the head of Uzbekistan’s secret intelligence service. He is a long serving official and is powerful but he is also a similar age and vintage to Mr Karimov.

There are others too, including finance minister Rustam Azimov and senate head Ilgizar Sobirov. And these options are what pose a real threat to Uzbekistan’s stability and Mr Krimov’s legacy.

For Mr Karimov, or Papa, this year is going to be busy.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 217, published on Feb. 4 2015)