Campaigning has begun in the former Soviet nation of Kazakhstan for a presidential election that will pit long-serving incumbent Nursultan Nazarbayev against three outsiders. While contestants were officially allowed to begin the campaigning Thursday for the April 3 vote, leading opposition politicians have boycotted an election that they have described as a sham. Nazarbayev's competitors are Gani Kasymov, leader of the Party of Patriots, Communist People's Party chief Zhambyl Akhmetbekov and environmentalist Mels Yeleusizov. Nazarbayev, who has ruled energy-rich Kazakhstan since independence in 1991, is genuinely popular, but critics say he has ruthlessly stifled democracy in this mostly Muslim Central Asian nation. (AP)

Incident in south Kyrgyzstan tells interethnic tension

3 March

The incident that took place in south Kyrgyzstan on Tuesday shows there are still bad feelings between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks, U.S. expert on Central Asia Bruce Pannier [1] believes. "The whole affair shows there are still bad feelings between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks in the south," Pannier wrote in an e-mail to Trend. A protest action involving about 700 people took place in the Kyrgyz Nookat city on Tuesday. Protesters demanded to make criminally responsible those who ordered the murder of deputy head of the regional tax service Sagynbek Alimbaev [2]. Alimbaev was brutally murdered on Feb. 23. It is assumed that the crime has been ordered by local entrepreneur Adylzhan, a Russian citizen. According to the police of Osh region, he is hiding in the city of Fergana in Uzbekistan. The protesters also set fire to the houses of those accused of involvement in the crime. According to the expert, the incident in Nookat was a bad sign, despite that credit to the authorities, the situation was taken under control quickly. This is not the first ethnic confrontation in the country, its last major outbreak occurred in June last year, when the confrontations in the south killed more than 400 people. The total destabilization of the situation in the country took place earlier in April, when riots resulted in overthrow of President Kurmanbek Bakiyev [3]. According to the expert, the demand that the organizer of this murder be brought back from Uzbekistan where he is allegedly hiding cannot be fulfilled, since the Kyrgyz authorities would not dare to enter Uzbekistan to get him. "In addition, there is little chance the Uzbek government would apprehend and extradite him to Kyrgyzstan," Pannier said.

According to the expert, that means there will continue to be Kyrgyz who will be angry because they believe justice has not been served. "Hopefully they will not take out their frustrations on local Uzbeks in Kyrgyzstan," the expert said. "Winter is coming to an end and there are people who are predicting that when the temperatures rise so will tensions in southern Kyrgyzstan. So again, what happened in Nookat is a bad sign," Pannier said. (Trend)

Police officer killed in Dagestan’s Makhachkala

4 March

Deputy head of the Department of the Federal Tax Service for Dagestan Zalkipri Sheikhov was killed in shooting in Mackachkala on Friday morning. As a source in the Interior Ministry of Dagestan told ITAR-TASS, “unidentified people fired on a Nissan Almera car with Sheikhov inside at the corner of Abubakarov and Engels Streets not far from the Spiritual Department of Muslims of Dagestan at about 09.30 Moscow time.”  An investigation team is working at the site of the incident. (Itar-Tass)

Azerbaijani, Turkish think tanks ink memorandum

7 March

The acting director of the Azerbaijan’s Center for Strategic Studies Gulshen Pashayeva and adviser to the Turkish Foreign Minister, director of Center for Strategic Studies Bulent Aras have signed a memorandum here today. The memo envisages organization of joint meetings and researches, cooperation on different fields and other issues. (AzerTAc)

Uzbekistan jails six for baby trafficking

7 March

An Uzbek court has sentenced six people to between seven and 10 years in prison for selling dozens of newborn babies, a pro-government website says. The suspects, who initially included 10 women and two men, were arrested in 2009 on suspicion of organising the sale of a four-month-old baby for $3,000, gorizont.uz website said. The court hearing "confirmed 70 cases of unlawful child fostering, including four cases in which the babies were taken out of the country," said the website, which is close to the Uzbek law enforcement authorities. The report said that six other defendants received suspended sentences. The group was headed by Ikbarkhon Hamidova, 63, who worked as a lawyer at several maternity hospitals, the report said. (AFP)

Uzbek activist returns U.S. award to protest honoring of Otunbayeva
8 March
An Uzbek human rights activist says she will return a U.S. State Department award she received in 2009 to protest the award being presented to Kyrgyz President Roza Otunbaeva in Washington, RFE/RL's Uzbek Service reports.
In an open letter made public on March 7, one day before Otunbaeva was to be honored [4], Mutabar Tajibaeva said the State Department's decision to give the International Women of Courage award to Kyrgyz president "killed my nation's trust in the United States to [maintain] justice and truth." She wrote that Otunbaeva had "let my compatriots in Kyrgyzstan be violently killed...did not do anything to prevent the stealing of humanitarian aid sent to my people, [and] failed to stop the 'ethnic cleansing'...[and] who is unable to stop persecutions of Uzbeks, which continue even now." More than 400 ethnic Uzbeks and Kyrgyz died in violent ethnic clashes in Kyrgyzstan's southern regions of Osh and Jalal-Abad in mid-June. Thousands of others were made homeless. Tajibaeva also wrote in her open letter that "to be on one list with Roza Otunbaeva for me would mean a betrayal of my nation, my people. I cannot be on one list with a person whose hands are covered in blood...and therefore I refuse the U.S. State Department's 2009 International Women of Courage award." "I do not have anything against Roza Otunbaeva as a woman; I am against the President of Kyrgyzstan Roza Otunbaeva, because at the moment when she led [Kyrgyzstan's] interim government, the crime against the Uzbek people was committed," Tajibaeva told RFE/RL on March 8. "She failed to stop it, she did not take any concrete steps [with that aim], and she did not go to the exact places to meet the victims of that crime." The U.S. State Department presents the International Women of Courage award each year to women from different countries on March 8, International Women's Day. It has honored 38 women from 27 countries since the award was instituted in 2007. Otunbaeva, the first female head of state in Central Asia, came to power after the ouster of President Kurmanbek Bakiev in April 2010. She is being given the award along with nine other women from such countries as Afghanistan, Cuba, Belarus, and China. The State Department said on its website that Otunbaeva is being given the award for "binding together a historically fractious opposition into a provisional government structure." She oversaw the writing of a new constitution, which was approved in a referendum and shifted power away from the president, and the holding of parliamentary elections.  Tajibaeva, 49, spent more than two years in jail in Uzbekistan for her human rights activities. (RFE/RL)

Kyrgyz President calls for US-funded anti-terror base

8 March

The President of Kyrgyzstan has called on the US to fund and support an anti-terrorism centre and improved border police, both to face its domestic threat and prevent terrorists encroaching from neighbouring Tajikistan.  Roza Otunbayeva, who was in Washington to receive a "Woman of Courage award" from Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, made her call in a speech at the Carnegie Endowment.  "We want to build this training centre in Batken," she said.  US plans to fund the anti-terrorism centre were first announced at the start of last year, but were derailed by the revolution which brought Mrs Otunbayeva to power last April. Under the previous plan, the base cost $5.5 million (£3.4m), and was to be used to train Kyrgyz [5] security forces in counter-terrorist techniques.

In 1999, the Batken region was the site of Kyrgyzstan's worst terrorist attack, when a detachment of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, crept over the border from a base in Tajikistan, and kidnapped a team of Japanese geologists, and the mayor of Osh, Kyrgyzstan's second city. "I'm very concerned about the Kyrgyz-Tajik border," Mrs Otunbayeva said, explaining that her country has only three border guards per kilometre, compared with seven for Tajikistan, and up to 12 for Uzbekistan. (Daily Telegraph)

Civilian deaths in Afghanistan hit records high
9 March
The United Nations says the number of civilians killed in the war in Afghanistan jumped to a record high last year.
In an annual report on civilian deaths in the conflict, the UN mission in Afghanistan says more than 2,700 civilians were killed in 2010, a 15 percent rise on the previous year. Insurgents were responsible for 75 percent of those deaths. Sixteen percent were attributed to foreign and government forces, no responsibility could be determined for 9 percent of civilian deaths. Abductions rose 83 doubled, and violence continued to spread from the south to the north, east, and west. But the most "alarming" trend, the report said, was that assassinations doubled, with government officials, aid workers and civilians perceived to be supportive of the Afghan government or NATO-led foreign forces being targeted. (RFE/RL)

Uzbek Parliament Approves Presidential Successor Rules

9 March

Uzbekistan has amended its laws to devolve more power to the parliament in a move a rights group said was aimed at securing a smooth power transfer from veteran leader Islam Karimov [6] and placating a critical West.  Last November, Karimov, 73, proposed to amend the constitution to allow lawmakers to nominate their own candidate for prime minister and call a vote of no confidence in the prime minister. The lower house of parliament, which includes no opposition parties, voted Friday to approve the proposed amendments. Few doubt that the loyal upper house will now swiftly rubber-stamp the bill. "This law seeks further democratization of the state, … a more balanced distribution of prerogatives among the branches of state power," the parliament said in a statement Saturday. Buried among other amendments is a revised Article 96 of the constitution, which now says the head of the upper house would become acting head of state in the event that the president was no longer able to carry out his duties. Previously, the article had been vague about the interim successor in the event that the head of state was unable to fulfill his duties specifically on health grounds. "The changes … indicate that the authorities might be carrying out the next stage of power transfer to a successor or successors from among the current political elite," Sukhrobjon Ismoilov, head of an Uzbek human rights policy body, Expert Working Group, said by telephone from the capital, Tashkent. In Uzbekistan, the issue of finding a successor is a puzzle for analysts and investors. In 2002, Karimov, who has no sons and has not indicated who could succeed him, held a referendum that extended his five-year term to seven years. In 2007, he won another seven years in an election in which no opposition candidates were allowed to run. The constitution lets a person be elected president for no more than two consecutive seven-year terms. It remains unclear whether Karimov will step down for good in 2014. If he cannot carry out his duties, he now must be replaced by the upper house head — currently Ilgizar Sobirov, a little-known 52-year-old lawyer and former district head of a tiny region. (Reuters)

Saakashvili to Visit U.S. 'to Seek Investments'

9 March

President Saakashvili will start visit to the United States on March 10 in an attempt to attract investments, Saakashvili's spokesperson said on March 8. Manana Manjgaladze described the upcoming visit as of "investment and economic" nature during which, she said, Saakashvili would meet with real estate tycoon Donald Trump "“to sign a very important contract on investment projects." She said without giving details, that the contract would be "an investment breakthrough" for Georgia "amid difficult economic times." Saakashvili met with Trump [7] in New York in September, 2010. It was reported at the time that a memorandum of understanding was signed between the Trump Organization, company in charge of Trump’s property development, and Silk Road Group, Georgian conglomerate with business interests in transportation, telecommunications, banking and real estate, on development of Trump Tower in Georgia. Saakashvili's spokesperson also said that during the trip, the Georgian President will meet with IMF managing director and will also hold meetings in the U.S. Senate. (Civil Georgia)

Kazakhstan & Turkmenistan Deal Blow to Nabucco Pipeline Prospects

11 March

Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan have reaffirmed their support for a Russian-backed project to expand natural gas exports out of Central Asia. The news is not a welcome development for those advocating the construction of a new European export route, dubbed Nabucco. According to a statement issued by Kazakhstan's government, Prime Minister Karim Masimov and Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov met in Tehran on March 11 on the sidelines of the Economic Cooperation Organization summit and renewed their commitment to the stalled expansion of the Prikaspiisky pipeline network.  "During the meeting much attention was paid to the construction of the Prikaspissky gas pipeline project. The parties noted that 'everything is on schedule and no problems in the implementation of this project are anticipated,'" the statement said. The pipeline is a joint Gazprom, KazMunaiGaz and Turkmengaz project. According to Gazprom's website, the conduit is designed to carry up to up to 30 billion cubic meters (bcm) of Turkmen gas and 10 bcm of Kazakh gas a year. Construction is due to start later this year.

Some experts believe that if the Prikaspiisky expansion proceeds, there might not be sufficient export supplies available to make the planned Nabucco route economically viable. (Eurasianet)

Turkmen President plans to visit China

11 March

Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhammadov’s forthcoming visit to the People’s Republic of China "will give more dynamics to the development of mutually beneficial cooperation", the Turkmen government said. It was at Berdimuhammadov’s meeting with the Chinese ambassador to Turkmenistan U Hunbin, who accomplished his diplomatic mission. Hunbin stressed that "China attaches great significance to the development of multifaceted and promising Turkmen-Chinese cooperation thanks to efforts of the two countries’ heads. "Turkmenistan considers China as one of its strategic and reliable partner, with whom it has not only the historical ties of centuries-old friendship dating back to the time of the Great Silk Road but also major joint projects implemented consistently," Berdimuhammadov said. Commissioning of the Turkmenistan-China gas pipeline through the territories of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan in December 2009 was held up as an example. Hunbin said that he considered it great honour to contribute to and witness the truly historical event: ceremony of commissioning of the Trans-Asia gas pipeline. The interlocutors exchanged views on the possibilities to enhance partnerships in the fuel and energy sector, as well as in petrochemistry and textile industries, transport, communications, construction and other sectors of the economy. The meeting stressed "the vast potential of the Turkmen-Chinese relations effectively realized due to the high level of political confidence between the two countries, similarity of views on key issues of international agenda, as well as regular contacts at the presidential level", the report says. (Trend)

Tajikistan suspends train route to Khujand
14 March
Tajikistan's railroad company has suspended trains traveling from the capital, Dushanbe, to the northern city of Khujand, RFE/RL's Tajik Service reports. Usmon Qalandarov, a deputy head of Tajikistan's railroad company, said today the shutting down of the route is due to a lack of passengers, long delays when the train transits a part of Uzbekistan, and the completion of improvements to a highway to Khujand. He added that in order to be profitable the train needed to carry at least 300 passengers, but it usually had no more than 10. The network -- which was built during the Soviet era -- is problematic for Tajikistan because of its poor relations with Uzbekistan and the difficulty in becoming profitable. Qalandarov said the railroad company proposed the construction of a Dushanbe-Tursunzoda-Khujand rail line which would be 260 kilometers long and almost four times shorter than the present route to Khujand. Another main reason for the small number of passengers on the Dushanbe-Khujand route is the reconstruction of the mountainous Dushanbe-Khujand highway, built by Chinese engineers, and the construction of a tunnel through the Anzob Gorge by an Iranian company. The major improvements to the highway have led many travelers to go by car instead of train. (RFE/RL)

Suicide bomber strikes in Russia's Dagestan

14 March

A suicide bomber killed one serviceman and wounded four others on Monday in Russia's Dagestan province, where the Kremlin is struggling to contain an Islamist insurgency, Russian news agencies reported. The attacker detonated explosives after approaching a police precinct house in Gubden, a village around 150 km (95 miles) south of the provincial capital Makhachkala, state-run RIA quoted a regional Interior Ministry official as saying. The victims were Interior Ministry troops assigned to guard the police building, the report said. Gubden is known for alleged links to an insurgency aimed at building an Islamic state across Russia's mainly Muslim North Caucasus, which includes Dagestan and several other provinces. Two female suicide bombers from Dagestan struck in Moscow's metro last March, killing 40 people. (Reuters)

Baku condemned for reaction to protests

15 March

Human Rights Watch complained authorities in Azerbaijan had closed-door trials for demonstrators who took part in peaceful protests last week. Opposition protesters swarmed the streets of Baku last week calling on President Ilham Aliyev [8] to resign. The protests were organized by the opposition Musavat movement, which said several of its members were whisked away by police. Party leader Isa Qambar told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's service in Azerbaijan that last week's demonstrations were the most "powerful" in recent years. Police, however, showed "extreme brutality" when confronting demonstrators, he added. Human Rights Watch said at least 30 people were given light prison sentences during closed-door trials last week though more than 100 were rounded up by riot police. Rachel Denber, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said calls for political freedom in Azerbaijan shouldn't land a person in jail. "Azerbaijani authorities should immediately set free those detained for supporting the protests in Baku," she said in a statement. "Instead of jailing peaceful protesters, the authorities should be investigating police conduct during those rallies." (UPI)

OSCE Chairman-in-Office Visits Georgia

15 March

OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Audronius Ažubalis, arrived in Tbilisi from Baku late on Monday. He said after meeting with the Georgian Foreign Minister, Grigol Vashadze, on March 15 that he was “very much concerned” about military build-up in Georgia’s breakaway regions “especially in South Ossetia.”

“It really worries us. We put this on the table to our European colleagues, to our allies and of course to our Russian partners,” Ažubalis said at a joint news conference with his Georgian counterpart. He said that dialogue between Tbilisi and Moscow was “essential.” “We are doing our best to find the way how both sides [Russian and Georgia] would keep the constant and open dialogue,” Ažubalis said and called on Russia “to strengthen the dialogue and to base this dialogue on a very open and honest way.” He welcomed Georgia’s non-use of force pledge and added: “We are waiting now from the Russia’s side to do the same.” The Lithuanian Foreign Minister praised Georgia “for internal democratic reforms” and said the country “is on the right track.”  Ažubalis, whose visit is part of his trip to three South Caucasus countries, also plans to meet in Tbilisi with PM Nika Gilauri, as well as with representative of political parties and civil society to discuss Lithuanian OSCE chairmanship’s priorities. (Civil Georgia)

Vashadze: Lavrov Broke WTO Talks 'Tight Lip' Deal

15March

Georgia’s Foreign Minister, Grigol Vashadze, accused his Russian counterpart of breaching a deal made by Georgian and Russian negotiators not to speak to media about ongoing talks over Russia’s WTO bid. “As you know first round of these talks [9] was held [in Bern] on March 10. Two agreements have been reached at that meeting; the first one – to continue talks in April and the second one – the sides should not make comments for the press about the negotiations,” Vashadze said while speaking at a joint news conference with visiting OSCE chairman-in-office on March 15. “I want to note with huge regret, that chief Russian diplomat, Mr. Lavrov, has violated the agreement few days after [the talks], which is traditional for Russian diplomacy. He violated the agreement with one sentence – sent us a threat and put forth preconditions. So judge yourself what a ‘wonderful’ approach the Russian diplomacy has towards achieved agreements,” Vashadze said. Vashadze was referring to Lavrov’s March 13 remarks [10], when he said, that in case of a failure to agree with Tbilisi, Moscow would seek to become WTO member bypassing Georgia’s consent. Lavrov said that Georgia's demands to deploy its customs officers at Psou and Roki in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, respectively, as a precondition for endorsing Russia's WTO bid had nothing to do with WTO-related issues "If our Georgian counterparts persist on such a politicized position, then we will probably have to solve the issue of WTO accession in other way - without their [Georgia's] consent. There is such a possibility," Lavrov said in an interview with Moscow-based TV station, Channel 3. (Civil Georgia)

Uzbekistan Expels Human Rights Watch’s Staff

15 March

Human Rights Watch [11] announced on Tuesday that the government of Uzbekistan [12] had decided to expel its employees from the country, a move the group said indicated a “deepening human rights crisis” in the authoritarian former Soviet republic. The Uzbek government gave no reason for the expulsion, though Human Rights Watch said in a statement that the decision had come after years of harassment by officials there.  “Well over a dozen human rights and political activists and independent journalists are in prison, torture and ill-treatment in the criminal justice system are systematic, and serious violations go unpunished,” the group said.  Human Rights Watch criticized recent moves by the United States and the European Union [13] to improve relations with the Uzbek government and called on them to hold the Central Asian nation accountable for its human rights record.  Uzbekistan provides a supply route for equipment going to Afghanistan. (The New York Times)

Yerevan agrees to return two Azerbaijani soldiers without preconditions

15 March

Armenia is ready to return two Azerbaijani POWs that are at the Armenian side’s disposal without any preconditions through the International Committee of the Red Cross [14] (ICRC [15]). As reliable sources told Mediamax, the transfer of the POWs to Azerbaijan can take place only if the POWs agree to the transfer. The Armenian Defense Ministry said on March 14 that it is ready to transfer the Azerbaijani POWs in pursuance of agreements reached between the two countries' presidents on March 5. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and 7 surrounding districts. Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group - Russia, France, and the U.S. - are currently holding the peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions. (Trend)

Kazakhstan delivered 21 Kyrgyz citizens from Japan

15 March

Aircraft of Kazakhstan’s Emergency Situation Ministry delivered 21 Kyrgyz citizens from Japan's quake-hit regions, Spokeswoman of the Kyrgyz MFA Lira Sabyrova [16] told 24.kg [17] news agency. She reported that yesterday, March 14, first group of Kyrgyzstanis were delivered from Japan. "They arrived to Almaty in evening. Today they will come to Bishkek along toward afternoon", she said. Japanese authorities said radiation levels had dropped at the earthquake-damaged Fukushima Daiichi [18] nuclear plant Tuesday. There are six reactors at Fukushima Daiichi, located in northeastern Japan about 40 miles (65 kilometers) south of Sendai, one of the areas worst hit by Friday's earthquake and the resulting tsunami. (Trend)

Azerbaijan threatens to shoot down Karabakh planes
16 March