DEC. 17 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Unable to sell equipment that had belonged to Uzdunrobita, the Uzbek subsidiary of Russia’s MTS, media reported that the state’s Uzbektelecom has taken charge of it. MTS closed down Uzdunrobita last year after the authorities started investigating it for tax evasion.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 165, published on Dec. 18 2013)
DEC. 13 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Perhaps Uzbek President Islam Karimov plans to re-position himself as a defender of civil society. On Dec. 13 he signed a decree apparently aimed at promoting Uzbek non-government, non-profit organisations.
It’s, frankly, a curious agenda to push and the real reasons behind the drive to relax the burden on civil society are still to emerge. From Jan. 1 registration fees for local branches of NGO will be reduced.
It’s been hard for NGOs in Uzbekistan. They have routinely complained of inspections from tax officials which result in petty fines.
As for human rights groups, they’ve mainly been forced to leave. News agencies have been chased out too.
The list of problems that real NGOs and civil activists face in Uzbekistan is long, very long. This decree is likely to be window dressing. There is still a long way to go to strength civil society in Uzbekistan.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 165, published on Dec. 18 2013)
DEC. 9 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — In an interview with the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet, Gulnara Karimova, eldest daughter of Uzbek President Islam Karimov, denied she ever wanted to be Uzbekistan’s next president. Analysts have speculated that a recent clampdown on Ms Karimova’s businesses in Uzbekistan was part of a struggle for power.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 164, published on Dec. 11 2013)
DEC. 10 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Gulnara Karimova, the flamboyant and outlandish eldest daughter of Uzbek President Islam Karimov, appears to be locked in a power struggle in Uzbekistan.
The authorities have closed down her various businesses and organisations and prosecuted her allies, leaving analysts wondering who her rivals are and who actual has the final say on succession issues.
Certainly not Mr Karimov, an exiled Uzbek human rights activist said. “The National Security Service controls everything in the country,” she said. “If a major power crisis hit the country it (the Uzbek security service) would decide who fills all the leading positions. They know who the next president will be.”
The head of Uzbekistan’s National Security Service is Rustam Inoyatov. He has held the position since 1995, accumulating much power and patronage. Analysts and media have said that Mr Inoyatov may be behind Ms Karimova’s recent problems.
A Central Asia security analyst also said that various external players may be able to influence who became Uzbekistan’s next president.
“Uzbekistan has significant gas and oil supply commitments to China, so Beijing will want to make sure that the next head of Uzbek state would not only honour those commitments but will also remain in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation,” he said.
The Kremlin would also try to influence the decision-making process in Uzbekistan, the analyst said, just as it had in Ukraine and Georgia.
Conspicuously absent from this short list are the EU and the US. They just don’t have the same cache in Uzbekistan.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 164, published on Dec. 11 2013)
DEC. 4 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Concerned that outside forces would influence its reporters, Uzbek state media banned its journalists from travelling abroad and from communicating with foreigners and diplomats in Uzbekistan. Media freedom and human rights lobby groups regularly criticise Uzbekistan as one of the most repressive regimes in the world.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 164, published on Dec. 11 2013)
DEC. 4 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Uzbek authorities have launched an investigation into the alleged theft of oil by Guernsey-based Tethys Petroleum, media reported. Tethys Petroleum, which operates across Central Asia, denied any wrongdoing. Complaining of pressure from the authorities, foreign investors have been leaving Uzbekistan.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 164, published on Dec. 11 2013)
DEC. 6 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Lukoil, the Russian energy company, plans to invest $5b in Uzbekistan over the next five years, making it the Central Asian state’s biggest single foreign investor, media reported. Lukoil is investing in three major gas producing projects in Uzbekistan.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 164, published on Dec. 11 2013)
DEC. 10 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The number of people using the internet in Uzbekistan has grown by 18% over the past year to around 7.1m people, media quoted Uzbek President Islam Karimov as saying. As a democratic tool, though, the internet is severely limited in Uzbekistan as the authorities heavily monitor users. The population of Uzbekistan is 30m.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 164, published on Dec. 11 2013)
DEC. 10 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The top members of the Uzbek national security service and not President Islam Karimov are the main king-makers in Uzbekistan, analysts told The Bulletin. Mr Karimov’s eldest daughter, Gulnara Karimova, has been locked in a struggle for power in Uzbekistan.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 164, published on Dec. 11 2013)
DEC. 6 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — At a ceremony to mark the 21st anniversary of Uzbekistan’s Constitution, President Islam Karimov played the role of the democrat.
He said he wanted Parliament to be stronger and to play a more defined role in public life. What he wanted to see, he said, was parliament monitoring both ministers and the decision-making process. To extend the Uzbek parliament’s reach and power, Mr Karimov said he would have to alter with the country’s already much tinkered with constitution.
Mr Karimov, though, is not known as a democrat and he was paying only lip-service to the idea of a powerful parliament. In reality it rubber stamps his decisions.
For foreign businesses and analysts, the underlying message of Mr Karimov’s latest pronouncement is that he is happy to alter Uzbekistan’s constitution to give more window dressing to the idea that parliamentary democracy exists in Uzbekistan.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 164, published on Dec. 11 2013)
