OCT. 6 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbekistan has drawn up plans to raise groups of volunteer border guards to help the official border guards division stop people crossing borders illegally, media reported. Uzbekistan is notoriously zealous about guarding its border areas. It has had border disputes with most of its neighbours.
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(News report from Issue No. 203, published on Oct. 8 2014)
OCT. 8 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Against the backdrop of worsening security in the Middle East and apparently without a trace or irony, Uzbek president Islam Karimov used a speech at the UN in New York to promote Uzbekistan as a safe tourist, media reported. Uzbekistan sells itself as the centre of the old Silk Road.
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(News report from Issue No. 203, published on Oct. 8 2014)
SEPT. 26 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Torture in Uzbek prisons is still endemic, the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a new report. Out of 44 former and current prisoners interviewed for the report, HRW said that 29 were tortured. Uzbekistan has said it is eliminating torture from its prisons and that officers who beat inmates are prosecuted.
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(News report from Issue No. 202, published on Oct. 1 2014)
SEPT. 30 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Doctors and nurses are being forced to work in fields picking the cotton harvest this year, various media have reported quoting human rights workers. Uzbekistan has come under increased criticism for using forced labour to pick its cotton harvest each year. The Uzbek government has not responded.
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(News report from Issue No. 202, published on Oct. 1 2014)
SEPT. 29 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Despite a World Bank report tentatively giving backing to Tajikistan’s Rogun Dam, Uzbekistan foreign minister Abdulaziz Kamilov used a speech at the UN to underline his country’s continued opposition to the project. Increased tension between Uzbekistan and Tajikistan over the dam is an important issue to monitor.
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(News report from Issue No. 202, published on Oct. 1 2014)
SEPT. 29 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan lawmakers want to arm villagers living in disputed areas along its borders with Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
A majority of Parliamentarians debating the plan say they want to help people defend themselves but the military has said the strategy will only worsen already tense cross- border relations.
The initiator of the legislation, Bakyt Torobayev of the Progress parliamentary splinter faction claims the initiative will save budget money. Paying a civilian that already lives on the border will cost less than housing, feeding and paying a soldier, he has argued.
Kyrgyzstan’s Defence Council issued a statement as parliament discussed the legislation. “(Arming) ordinary citizens without higher or military education and preparation for border service, can have consequences, including their potential participation in illegal migration, narcotics trafficking and contraband,” it said.
Medet Tiulegenov, a political science professor at the American University of Central Asia was also against the plan.
“This issue has been raised in the context of insufficient formal security on the border,” Mr Tiulegenov told The Conway Bulletin. He also said that security issues are beyond the parliament’s formal mandate.
“But when government itself lacks a clear vision on border issues and security in the country, MPs exploit that lack of clarity and try to make a name for themselves,” he said.
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(News report from Issue No. 202, published on Oct. 1 2014)
SEPT. 22 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The authorities in Uzbekistan denied entry to the country to an exiled opposition leader’s wife and son, the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) reported. RFE/RL said Bahodir Choriev’s wife and son had tried to enter Tashkent via a flight from Istanbul.
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(News report from Issue No. 201, published on Sept. 24 2014)
SEPT. 22 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Remittances to Central Asia from sanctions-hit Russia have fallen by around 8%, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said. Heaviest hit in Central Asia is Uzbekistan which sends back the most remittances from Russia, although this forms a lower proportion of GDP compared to Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
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(News report from Issue No. 201, published on Sept. 24 2014)
SEPT. 18 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbekistan’s government announced new electricity power price rises, the second of the year, from Oct. 1.
Like other Central Asian economies, sanctions on Russia have hit Uzbekistan too. Uzbek infrastructure is also groaning under increased demand, triggering energy shortages. Petrol shortages have also been reported for the past year.
Now Uzneftgaz, the state energy company, has said that prices for gas will rise by 10%. Water and heating prices will also rise by 7%.
These increases follow a 9% rise in April and analysts will be monitoring closely people’s reaction.
Rising utility prices can trigger widespread social unrest and with Uzbekistan in a state of flux it is vulnerable. The apparent arrest of Uzbek president Islam Karimov’s eldest daughter, Gulnara Karimova, on various economic charges has unsettled politics and petrol shortages coupled with utility price increases have hit its economy.
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(News report from Issue No. 201, published on Sept. 24 2014)
SEPT. 18 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbekistan plans to start construction of its first wind farm by 2016, pro-government media quoted the director of the institute of energy at Uzbekistan’s Science Academy, Hakim Muratov, as saying. He said Germany’s GEO-NET Umweltconsulting is assessing the best spots.
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(News report from Issue No. 201, published on Sept. 24 2014)
