SEPT. 8 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The black flag of Islamic extremist group ISIS was draped momentarily over a bridge in Tashkent, media reported. Uzbekistan is sensitive to Islamic extremist action because of its long-running fight with the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU). Media said that police quickly removed the flag.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 199, published on Sept. 10 2014)
AUG. 27 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbekistan’s government has refused entry to athletes from Nigeria and Sierra Leone for the World Wrestling Championship scheduled to start on Sept. 8 in Tashkent because of fears that they could spread the deadly Ebola virus, media reported.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 198, published on Sept. 3 2014)
AUG. 28 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Petrol stations across Uzbekistan are closing because of a lack of fuel supplies, media reported. Media has been reporting for some time that fuel supplies in Uzbekistan have been low. The government has also said that it is no longer able to subsidise petrol causing prices to rise, especially around Tashkent.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 198, published on Sept. 3 2014)
SEPT 3 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Regions across Uzbekistan have started work on a government edict to try and lure the thousands of Uzbeks working abroad back home, even though the economy is looking decidedly dodgy and the chances of full time employment are low.
Uznews.net, an Uzbek opposition website, reported that Samarkand, the second largest city in the country, has proposed all migrants who return will get given a job.
“I witnessed people like myself being forced to live a nomadic life in dirty conditions, without rights in a foreign land,” the website reported one Samarkand resident as saying in a propaganda drive.
“If we were to work as hard at home as we work in Russia, we would make good money.”
The drive to persuade migrants to return to Uzbekistan apparently came in July from Uzbek PM Shavkat Mirziyoyev.
It also coincided with news that Russia was going to make it more difficult for migrants to enter and also that the sanctions imposed on Russia since fighting in Ukraine started has reduced demand for casual migrant workers. This may have dampened demand for migrants from Central Asia who would typically do the cleaning and building jobs around Moscow and other large Russian cities.
Even so, Uzbekistan relies heavily on remittances from workers based in Russia and working on a campaign to encourage them back home is likely to be counter- productive.
Uzbekistan has plenty of infrastructure of its own to deal with, including crumbling road, rail and power networks, so, possibly, calling on more people to move back to Uzbekistan is counter productive.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 198, published on Sept. 3 2014)
SEPT.1 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Perhaps to prove his virility and good health, Uzbek president Islam Karimov danced with various other officials in public on Independence Day. The 76-year-old Mr Karimov has been the centre of much speculation over his health during the last few years.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 198, published on Sept. 3 2014)
AUG. 13 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – People protesting against the alleged use of child labour in Uzbekistan’s cotton fields have targeted South Korea’s Daewoo International Corporation, media reported. According to demonstrators Daewoo buys 5% of Uzbekistan’s cotton. The protests are a reminder of just how sensitive the use of Uzbek cotton is in western clothing.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 196, published on Aug. 20 2014)
AUG. 18 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Coca-Cola has re-started drinks production in Uzbekistan a year after manufacturing stopped, media reported.
This is significant in the internal Uzbek power struggle and may show that after a turbulent 12 months Uzbekistan’s politics are calming.
Coca-Cola production in Uzbekistan had been closely associated with Gulnara Karimova, daughter of Uzbek President Islam Karimov, through her company Zeromax which also owned several other major Uzbek companies.
Over the past year or so, though, the influence of Ms Karimova has waned. She is now under house arrest in Tashkent and her closest associates have been jailed for various economic crimes.
Information coming out of Uzbekistan is scant but analysts have said that Ms Karimova’s rivals moved to weaken her before she could set herself up as the heir apparent to her father.
In any case, Coca-Cola products had virtually disappeared from supermarket shelves in Uzbekistan this year. It appears now that control of Coca-Cola has been handed over to Ms Karimova’s rivals, marking their ascendency as well as the return of Coca-Cola’s soft drinks.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 196, published on Aug. 20 2014)
AUG.11 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Sixty paintings by Uzbekistan’s Victor Ufimtsev, considered one of the masters of the mid-20th century futurist movement, have been lost or been stolen, an Uzbek opposition website reported. Opposition members in Uzbekistan have previously alleged that members of the Uzbek elite have stolen the paintings.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 195, published on Aug. 13 2014)
AUG. 5 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbekistan’s military detained five Tajik shepherds and their livestock for a week after they strayed into Uzbek territory, media reported, briefly heightening tension between the two neighbours. Uzbekistan- Tajikistan relations are particularly important to monitor for stability in Central Asia.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 194, published on Aug. 6 2014)
AUG. 1 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The United States denied it was discussing setting up a base in Uzbekistan after media reports said a deal was imminent. The US pulled out of its base outside Bishkek this year and speculation has been rising that it may be looking to set up a new Central Asia hub.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 194, published on Aug. 6 2014)
