Swiss to Hand Over $84 Million in Blocked Assets to Kazakhstan
4 May
Switzerland said Friday it has agreed to send $84 million in blocked assets to Kazakhstan. The Foreign Ministry said the cash had been frozen in Switzerland as the result of a corruption case involving an American businessman and oil concessions in the Central Asian nation. It said Switzerland, the United States and Kazakhstan agreed to the arrangement earlier this week. While the ministry's statement did not identify the businessman, the details of the case appear to correspond with U.S. investigations of James H. Giffen, a New York banker indicted in 2003 on charges of making more than $78 million in unlawful payments to two senior Kazakh officials. Giffen allegedly made the payments in the 1990s on behalf of U.S. oil companies, including Mobil Oil Corp, to obtain concessions to exploit oil resources. The indictment accused Giffen of defrauding Kazakhstan out of millions in oil dollars. Ambassador Paul Seger, head of the Swiss ministry's international law department, said only that the transfer of funds had been agreed to as part of a deal between U.S. authorities and the American businessman, whom he also declined to identify. "The funds will be used for the benefit of needy children in Kazakhstan," the ministry said. The U.S. and Switzerland will both be allowed to veto the transfer of any funds, it said. The World Bank will help the three countries in monitoring payments. (AP)

 

MINISTER SAYS KAZAKHSTAN SUPPORTS TURKMENISTAN-CHINA PIPELINE PROJECT

4 May

Kazakh Energy Minister Baktykozha Izmukhambetov told Interfax that Kazakhstan supports the construction of a natural gas pipeline from Turkmenistan to China through Kazakhstan. Izmukhambetov said that Kazakh Prime Minister Karim Masimov "specifically discussed the issue of the route of the future gas pipeline from Turkmenistan to China" on a recent visit to Turkmenistan. Izmukhambetov added, "We have various proposals and options. If the option [of building the gas pipeline] through Uzbekistan directly through southern Kazakhstan and on to China is passed, we also have some of our own proposals." Turkmenistan and China signed a framework agreement in 2006 to build a pipeline to export Turkmen gas to China by 2009 with an annual capacity of 30 billion cubic meters. (Interfax)

 

DAUGHTER OF KYRGYZ EX-PRESIDENT FACES CHARGES

5 May

Prosecutors in Chuy Province on May 5 charged Bermet Akaeva, daughter of former Kyrgyz President Askar Akaev, with obstruction of justice, contempt of court, and the destruction of documents. Prosecutor Jumadyl Makeshov said the charges stemmed from the actions of Akaeva's supporters in Kemin during her disputed bid to run in an April 29 parliamentary by-election. Akaeva signed a statement agreeing not to leave Bishkek and to remain home at night. In a statement to 24.kg on May 5, ex-president Akaev said, "I am sure that these charges have no legal grounds. It is painful for me to see that she has been subjected to unprecedented moral and physical torture since 28 April." (24.kg)

 

TURKMENISTAN HOPES FOR COOPERATION WITH U.S. OIL COMPANY
7 May
Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov told managers from U.S.-based Chevron on May 3 that he would like Chevron to take part in exploration, oil refining, and development projects in the Turkmen sector of the Caspian Sea, turkmenistan.ru reported. The meeting in Ashgabat was attended by Guy Hollingsworth, managing director of Chevron Eurasia, and Ian MacDonald, who heads Chevron's Russian operations, "The Moscow Times" reported. No further details were provided in the official Turkmen report, but a Chevron spokesman said in a statement, "We believe Turkmenistan has all the opportunities for becoming one of the world's oil majors and hope Chevron will be capable of rendering support to the development of the Turkmen oil and gas sector." (RFE/RL)

 

BRITISH POLITICAL, CULTURAL ELITE SLAMS RUSSIAN ABUSES IN CHECHNYA

7 May

More than 100 British luminaries have appended their signatures to a letter, published on May 7 in "The Independent," deploring "persistent human rights abuses and war crimes" in Chechnya and calling on President Putin to "take whatever action he can to restore peace and the rule of law." The signatories implicitly rejected Putin's argument that the installation of Ramzan Kadyrov as pro-Moscow republic head will expedite a return to peace and stability, pointing out that, on the contrary, Kadyrov's administration represents for the majority of Chechens "little more than a regime of fear and oppression." The signatories include the present and former leaders of the Liberal Democrats, Charles Kennedy and Menzies Campbell, and former Conservative Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind. (RFE/RL)

 

AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENT CLAIMS ARMENIA HAS MADE CONCESSIONS OVER KARABAKH SETTLEMENT

7 May

Speaking on May 4 at the ceremonial inauguration of a new settlement near Baku for displaced persons who fled their homes during the Karabakh conflict, Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev claimed that Armenia has made key concessions regarding how that conflict is to be resolved. Specifically, Aliyev claimed that Yerevan has agreed to relinquish over a period of several years control of seven Azerbaijani districts bordering on Nagorno-Karabakh, after which a decision will be taken on the disputed region's status within Azerbaijan. But both Armenian Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian and Foreign Ministry spokesman Vladimir Karapetian denied later on May 4 that Yerevan's negotiating position has changed in any way. Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian explained in June 2006 that Armenian forces will not be withdrawn from Lacin and Kelbacar until after a referendum is held to determine Karabakh's future status. (RFE/RL)

 

TWO AZERBAIJANI JOURNALISTS SENTENCED
7 May
Baku's Sabayil district court passed sentence on May 4 on journalist Rafiq Tagi and editor Samir Sadatoglu in connection with an article published in November 2006 in Sadatoglu's newspaper "Sanat."  The court

deemed the publication of Tagi's article "Europe and Us," which discussed relations between Islam and Christianity, an attempt to incite religious hatred, and sentenced Tagi to three and Sadatoglu to four years' imprisonment. The press watchdog Reporters without Borders (RSF) issued a statement on May 4 branding the sentences "disproportionate" and an indication of the extent to which free speech in Azerbaijan is threatened. Presidential administration official Ali Hasanov told day.az on May 7 that RSF is "biased" in its assessments, and for that reason the Azerbaijani authorities will no longer cooperate with it. (day.az)

 

KAZAKHSTAN REPORTS SHARP INCREASE IN FOREIGN DEBT
8 May
In a press conference in Almaty, Kazakh Central Bank Deputy chairwoman Gulbanu Aymanbetova reported on May 8 that Kazakhstan's foreign debt has risen sharply, from $42.6 billion in 2005 to $73.8 billion at the end of 2006. She noted that the sharp increase in the country's external debt was "mainly due to the banking sector's borrowing." She added that the foreign debt of the Kazakh banking sector grew by more than $18 billion in 2006, reaching a total of $33.3 billion at the end of the year. (Interfax)

 

SOUTH OSSETIAN LEADER SUSPENDS CONTACTS WITH TBILISI

8 May

Eduard Kokoity, de facto president of the unrecognized breakaway republic of South Ossetia, warned on May 7 that his regime will not resume talks with the central Georgian government until Tbilisi abjures any further contacts with Dmitry Sanakoyev. South Ossetia's Georgian minority elected Sanakoyev its "president" in a ballot last November that neither the Georgian authorities nor the international community recognized as legal and valid. The Georgian parliament passed last month in the first and on May 8 in the second reading a bill drafted by President Saakashvili creating a "provisional" administration in South Ossetia that is intended to legalize Sanakoyev's position. Sanakoyev is to address the Georgian parliament on May 11, at which juncture he will be formally named head of the new temporary administration, Caucasus Press reported on May 8. (Caucasus Press)

 

ESTONIAN PRESIDENT VISITS GEORGIA

9 May

Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili told his visiting Estonian counterpart Toomas Hendriks Ilves in Tbilisi on May 7 that Georgians are shocked by the violent response by Russians in Estonia to the relocation from central Tallin of a Soviet memorial to World War II dead, Caucasus Press reported. Saakashvili said that "we should all assist Estonia in creating a strong democratic society and in preventing undemocratic activities." On May 8, the Georgian parliament adopted a resolution similarly condemning the backlash to the relocation of the monument, including protests outside the Estonian Embassy in Moscow. The resolution expressed support for all measures taken by the Estonian government to restore order. (RFE/RL)

 

Kazakhstan to use Russia as main oil transit route – Nazarbayev
10 May
Kazakhstan's cooperation with Russia in transporting energy is strategic in nature, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said. "Kazakhstan is absolutely committed to shipping most of oil, if not all of it, through Russian territory. We have always said this," Nazarbayev said at negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Astana on Thursday. (Interfax)

 

POLICE, DEMONSTRATORS CLASH IN ARMENIAN CAPITAL

10 May

Police used truncheons and tear gas on May 9 against some of the several thousand participants in an election rally in Yerevan jointly convened by former Prime Minister Aram Sargsian's Hanrapetutiun, Aram

Karapetian's Nor Zhamanakner, and Aylentrank (Alternative). Some demonstrators were detained briefly but then released. Former Yerevan Mayor Vahagn Khachatrian told the gathering that there is no longer any alternative to the impeachment of the current leadership. Sargsian warned that if the May 12 parliamentary elections are falsified, the bloc will convene a mass demonstration on May 13 on Freedom Square in Yerevan "to decide what to do next." Demonstration participants marched to the National Security Ministry building to protest the detention of Karabakh war veterans Zhirayr Sefilian and Vartan Malkhasian and of former Foreign Minister Alexander Arzoumanian. Also on May 9, Arzoumanian's lawyer Hovik Arsenian told RFE/RL's Armenian Service that the authorities do not have sufficient evidence to substantiate the charges of money laundering against Arzoumanian and will probably release him from detention later this week. (RFE/RL)

 

Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan agree on Caspian Pipe
12 May
Russia, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan agreed to build a gas pipeline along the Caspian coast and will sign the deal by September 1, a joint declaration of the three presidents said Friday. Following the summit meeting in Turkmenistan, Vladimir Putin, Nursultan Nazarbayev and Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov instructed their governments to order the construction of the pipeline starting from the second half of 2008. The pipeline, which will run from Turkmenistan along the Caspian coast of Kazakhstan and on to Russia, is a rival project to U.S. and European proposals to build a pipeline under the Caspian Sea, which would carry Turkmen gas to southern Europe bypassing Russia, the sole re-exporter of the Turkmen gas. Putin's Central Asian tour, which includes Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, coincided with an energy summit in Poland May 11-13 aimed at reducing energy dependence on Russia. Nazarbayev, its key participant, pulled out from the forum also being attended by Azerbaijan, Georgia, Ukraine and Lithuania. (RIA Novosti)

 

Caspian gasline reconstruction to boost its throughput capacity – Putin
12 May
The reconstruction and development of a Caspian gas pipeline will help boost its throughput capacity by 2012, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said. "We will reconstruct the existing facilities and build new ones. We will do this in the near future, and this would increase their throughput capacity by at least 12 billion cubic meters by 2012," Putin told journalists in Turkmenbashi on Saturday. "We opened the Caspian gas pipeline route at Turkmenistan's request," Putin said. This pipeline is pumping 4.2 billion cubic meters of gas a year now, although it "can pump even 10.5 billion cubic meters," Putin said. (Interfax)

 

Opposition rally under way in Yerevan
13 May
A rally organized by a number of Armenian opposition parties has begun on Sunday afternoon in Yerevan. Up to several thousand people are said to take part in the rally. Initially, three opposition parties, including the Republic Party, the New Times Party and the Impeachment opposition bloc planned to stage the rally. Later, a number of other Armenian opposition parties, which according to final results failed to overcome a 5% barrier and secure seats in the parliament, joined them in the protest action. Opposition politicians presented at the rally information on violations and falsifications, which as they claim were registered at the May 13 parliamentary elections. "We cannot acknowledge the results of the elections, because such elections humiliate the dignity of our nation. We are ready to cooperate will all forces that will fight for fair elections," leader of the opposition Armenian People's Party Stepan Demirchian said. (Interfax)

Republican Party leading in Armenian elections
13 May
With 812,930 ballot papers processed, which makes 59% of the votes cast in Saturday's parliamentary elections, Armenia's Republican Party is leading, having won 35% of the counted votes, officials with the Central Elections Commission told Interfax on Sunday. Prosperous Armenia is in second place with 16% of the counted votes, Dashnaktsutyun in third with 14% and the opposition Orinats Yerkir party (Law-Based State) is in fourth place with 6.6% of the votes. The United Labor Party has won 4.5% of the counted votes, the Heritage Party 3.9% and the National Union Party 3.7%. All of these parties have a good chance of overriding the 5% barrier required for parliamentary representation. But the votes counted do not fully reflect the situation in the Armenian capital, which has no on-line system of transferring data, the commission said. After figures are obtained for Yerevan, the picture could change seriously, it said. The Central Elections Commission refrained from commenting on opposition parties' claims regarding mass vote rigging. A mission of observers representing the Commonwealth of Independent States is likely to publish a report shortly. Their colleagues from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe are expected to produce an account of the work done at 2:30 p.m., local time (1:30 p.m., Moscow time) Sunday. (Interfax)

Georgian policeman, Tskhinvali resident wounded in shootout –peacekeepers
13 May
Peacekeepers have reported shoot-outs in the Georgian-Ossetian conflict zone, in which a Georgian police officer and a resident of Tskhinvali were wounded. "An intensive exchange of fire, involving the conflicting parties' law enforcement squads, lasted from 8:05 p.m. until 8:45 p.m. on May 12 between the southern limit of Tskhinvali, the outskirts of the village of Ergneti and the northern limit of the village of Nikozi," sources in the headquarters of the Joint Peacekeeping Force in the Georgian-Ossetian conflict zone told Interfax on Sunday. "A three-way monitoring mission and observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe failed to establish the initiator. The first shots were fired on the eastern bank of the Bolshaya Liakhva near an irrigation canal between the northern limit of the Georgian village of Ergneti and the southern outskirts of the Ossetian village of Gudzhabauri," the report says. The conflicting sides used firearms and grenade launchers. Heavy weapons were not used. A Georgian police officer was wounded and hospitalized in Gori," it said. Exchanges of fire also occurred between the Georgian and South Ossetian sides from 11:30 p.m. to midnight between the northern limit of Tskhinvali, the village of Kverneti and the southern outskirts of Tamarasheni," the headquarters said. "The sides used firearms and grenade launchers. A resident of Tskhinvali was wounded. He was hospitalized," the peacekeepers said.  The monitoring groups continued investigating the incident on May 13, they said. (Interfax)

E.U. extends sanctions against Uzbekistan
14 May
The European Union will drop a visa ban against four Uzbek officials, EU foreign ministers decided Monday while extending other sanctions against the Central Asian nation imposed after a crackdown on an uprising in 2005. The arms embargo on Uzbekistan remains in place, but only eight Uzbek officials will now be banned from traveling to the EU, down from 12, Ferrero-Waldner said, adding that the sanctions will be reviewed again in six months. The sanctions were imposed after government troops opened fire on a crowd of mostly peaceful protesters in Andijan, a city in the east of the country, two years ago, killing at least 700 people, according to rights groups and witnesses. The government insisted 187 died and blamed Islamic militants for instigating the violence. The Uzbeks have refused to meet EU demands for an independent investigation into the crackdown. But the bloc seized on President Islam Karimov's increased willingness to discuss the May 13, 2005, events. The EU "appreciates the readiness of the Uzbek side to engage in this dialogue," the ministers said in a statement. Ferrero-Waldner said the modified visa ban "gives a chance to the Uzbeks to show that they really mean what they say ... and we think this is a way of engaging with the Uzbeks." (AP)

Central Asian Pipeline would bypass Russia
14 May
Ukraine, Lithuania, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Poland are setting up a consortium to transport Central Asian energy to Europe, bypassing Russia [1]. "We discussed energy security at the Polish summit," Azerbaijani Industry and Energy Minister Natiq Aliyev told APA news agency Sunday. "An ad hoc group will be set up to facilitate the creation of a joint consortium on the transportation of energy resources to Europe [2]." In a meeting Friday, the leaders of five countries met in Krakow, Poland [3], and decided to extend the Odessa-Brody pipeline to Polish energy facilities to create a corridor to Europe, bypassing Russia. The move is a boost to efforts by Europe to reduce its energy dependence on Russia. (UPI)

Opposition MP Questions Saakashvili’s Border Remarks
14 May
The Georgian Foreign Ministry and President Saakashvili should clarify the latter’s remarks vis-a-vis a border agreement with Azerbaijan, opposition lawmaker from the Conservative Party Zviad Dzidziguri said on May 14. President Saakashvili said on May 12, after talks with his visiting Azerbaijani counterpart, Ilham Aliyev, that the two countries would soon reach an agreement on the disputed border section of Davit Gareji, a complex of cave monasteries. “Joint working groups will meet soon… Strategic heights should remain under Azerbaijani control, while the complex of monasteries has to remain on Georgian territory… I am sure we will be able to sign [a border delimitation] agreement very soon,” Saakashvili told reporters. But Dzidziguri said at a news conference on May 14 that it was impossible to separate “strategic heights” from the monasteries complex. “It is impossible because part of the monastery is located on those very same strategic heights. It is impossible to consider the monastery and the strategic heights separately,” Dzidziguri said. (Civil Georgia)

 

 

Azerbaijan: Former oil Co. Head on Trial
15 May
The trial opened on Tuesday for the former chief of Azerbaijan's largest private oil company and his brother, a former Cabinet minister who also has been charged in an alleged coup plot. Opposition figures and supporters of the brothers, Rafiq and Farhad Aliyev, say the charges they face of economic crimes, including bribe-taking and tax evasion, are politically motivated. Journalists and diplomats were not allowed into the opening session of the trial, which local human rights activist Elchin Behbudov said "bears witness to the fact that this is a made-to-order legal process and will be carried out unobjectively." Rafiq Aliev is former chief of the private oil company Azpetrol. His brother is a former Economic Development Minister and one of a dozen people arrested in 2005 in connection with the alleged coup plot. The opposition says the arrests were part of an effort by the government to manipulate the vote in parliamentary elections that year. The arrests came shortly before the elections. Rafiq Aliev had not been charged with participation in the plot. (AP)

Berlin Bashes U.S. Afghanistan Strategy
15 May
Germany is making its objections clear to the U.S. military strategy for Afghanistan [4] after an anti-terror operation killed civilians. "We need to make sure that future operations don't take place in this way," German Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung said Monday in Brussels at a meeting with his European Union counterparts, according to German online daily Netzeitung. Jung was referencing a bombing of the U.S.-led Operation Enduring Freedom, which fights the Taliban and other terror groups in Afghanistan; the air raid was directed against the Taliban but killed at least 21 civilians in the Helmand province. Jung warned that OEF would undermine the goal of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, which is tasked with reconstruction efforts.  "We don't want the population against us," Jung said. "We have to prevent that." Jung has in the past lobbied to win over the hearts and minds of the Afghan population, and pair security missions with an increasing number of civilian reconstruction efforts. The death of civilians was "just the wrong tactic," he said, adding that he had discussed the unfortunate incident with NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer. Meanwhile, EU defense ministers agreed to send some 160 police to Afghanistan to provide training for the domestic police force. "This mission represents a major contribution to establishing a professional police sector in Afghanistan," Javier Solana, the EU's foreign policy chief, said in a statement. (UPI)

 

Air Strikes Kill 60 Taliban in Afghanistan: Police
15 May
Sixty Taliban fighters including three commanders were killed in overnight air strikes on two rebel bases in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar, a provincial police chief said on Tuesday. A spokesman for the Afghan Defense Ministry gave a lower death toll. "I can confirm only 11 dead, including a Taliban commander," Zahir Azimi said. The joint operation involving foreign and Afghan security forces took place in the Zharai district of Kandahar, police chief Esmatullah Alizai told Reuters. He said there were no casualties among the foreign or Afghan forces. A U.S. military spokesman said he was aware of the reports and was checking them. NATO said it was not aware of any involvement in such an operation. Violence has surged in Afghanistan in recent weeks after the traditional winter lull. Hundreds have been killed already this year after more than 4,000 people died last year. In the latest attack, a roadside bomb killed seven Afghan soldiers in the eastern province of Nuristan on Monday, the defense ministry said. Four soldiers were missing after the blast. The Taliban, who lost their top field commander in a clash at the weekend, could not be contacted immediately for comment about their reported losses in Kandahar. Mullah Dadullah was killed in a battle with U.S.-led forces in what was seen as the most serious blow to the Taliban since the insurgency began. Afghans have protested the deaths of civilians in air strikes by the U.S.-led coalition. (Reuters)

 

Kazakhstan long-time leader proposes cutting term after 2012 -1
16 May
Kazakhstan's president, who has led the Central Asian state for 18 years, proposed cutting a presidential term from seven to five years after 2012 as a "democratic" measure. In a speech to parliament Nursultan Nazarbayev, whose term is due to expire in 2012, also proposed a series of constitutional amendments which he said were aimed at transforming the energy rich Central Asian state from a presidential republic into a presidential-parliamentary one. "We want to emphasize our democratic commitments," said the president of the former Soviet republic, which has posted high economic growth and relative stability stemming from vast oil and gas reserves. The country's GDP grew 10.6% last year and 9.4% in 2005. Nazarbayev also said parliament should be given the right to control the government, which will be accountable both to the president and the legislature. "A simple majority rather than two thirds of votes should be enough for the lower house to pass a vote of no-confidence in the government," the president said. Nazarbayev's initiatives also included giving the parliament wider rights in forming bodies of the Central Election Commission and the committee auditing the implementation of the budget. The president also called for lifting the ban on state funding for public organizations. "A plan must be developed to provide partial financing of political parties from the state budget," he said. (RIA Novosti)