Despite news that a visa ban against four Uzbek officials is to be dropped, the EU finally decided to extend the bulk of their sanctions against the country for another six months on Monday. The Uzbek government reacted angrily, calling the decision ‘counter productive’.
In Turkmenistan Baptist Christian Vyacheslav Kalataevsky was sentenced to three years in a labour camp for illegally returning after being expelled in June 2001.
On the energy front, President Putin’s trip to Central Asia seems to have ended in success – Russia, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan agreed to a pipeline that will route gas through Russian territory. US Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman criticised the deal, saying it was ‘not good for Europe’. Meanwhile, Russia’s state-owned gas company Gazprom has acquired permission to prospect for gas in Kyrgyzstan, according to ITAR-TASS.
Significant political change in Kazakhstan was promised as parliament passed constitutional amendments including a reduction in the Presidential term from seven to five years. This will take effect from 2012 when the current President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s term expires. Though it appears to be a liberalizing measure, some commentators suggest that it is simply Nazarbayev’s way of securing a non-democratic succession.
Across the border in Turkmenistan, President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov fired the security chief, Akmurad Rejepov, who helped build his predecessor’s authoritarian regime, according to EurasiaNet. In Kyrgyzstan activism of a different kind to that seen in recent months surfaced as up to 800 protesters blockaded the country’s largest gold mine in a protest against environmental contamination from the site.
EurasiaNet carried an unusual feature on Turkmen cultural policy. An emphasis on ‘national’ heritage at the expense of traces of Russian influnce is something shared with Tajikistan, where RadioEurope/RadioFreeLiberty reported that the government is busying itself taking down Soviet-era monuments across the country. The Tajik people on the other hand are struggling to cope with an environmental disaster. Locusts have destroyed 23,350 hectares of crops in the southern Khatlon Oblast according to Reuters’ Alertnet.
Stay tuned to Central Asia Now for weekly news digests. Keep an eye out for our fortnightly analysis slots by regional experts.
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Comment by Leanna Reese 11.13.08 @ 1:11 am