Businessman Jusupbek Sharipov issued a statement today saying he was withdrawing his candidacy for the 10 July election.

Sharipov said he made his decision after acting President Kurmanbek Bakiev and former security chief Feliks Kulov recently announced a cooperation deal.

Kyrgyzstan's top prosecutor said Thursday that authorities intend to extradite quickly 29 detained Uzbek refugees who fled a violent crackdown by government troops in the eastern Uzbek city of Andijan last month. United Nations officials and human rights groups condemned any forcible return of the men, saying they face the risk of torture or execution and are still entitled to a review of their asylum applications.

Discord has arisen between the two Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan over the fate of Uzbek refugees who fled to Kyrgyzstan after the incidents in May in the city of Andican.

While Uzbekistan presses for the extradition of the refugees, the Kyrgyz government is unwilling to hand them over

The UN's Assistant High Commissioner for Refugees, Kamel Morjane, expressed concern about Kyrgyz threats to repatriate Uzbek refugees fleeing mass killings in the eastern Uzbek city of Andijan last month. He was speaking in the capital, Bishkek on Monday.

"We are especially concerned that 29 people who are today in detention in [the southern Kyrgyz city of] Osh. They were taken from the [Uzbek] refugee camp in Jalal-Abad after official requests from Uzbekistan", Morjane said at a press conferenc

Acting Kyrgyz Defense Minister Ismail Isakov told journalists in Moscow on 23 June that the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) will consider the possibility of opening another military base in Kyrgyzstan, Interfax-AVN reported

Hundreds of Uzbeks who fled a brutal government crackdown in their hometown last month have found themselves in a new potential trap, threatened with deportation by their host country, Kyrgyzstan.

Alexander Petrov, deputy head of Human Rights Watch's Moscow bureau, said the real goal behind Karimov's seeking the return of the refugees is ``to eliminate a source of information for the international community on the Andijan events.''

The United States has rejected a call by the six-country Shanghai Cooperation Organization to set a date for the withdrawal of American and coalition forces from bases in Central Asia.


U.S.-led military forces were deployed to air bases in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan after the 11 September 2001 attacks to support antiterrorist military operations in Afghanistan. French air force personnel have been based in Tajikistan.

Kyrgyzstan has called a partial halt to the repatriation of refugees who fled Uzbekistan in May, after a bloody crackdown in the Uzbek city of Andijan.
Foreign Minister Rosa Otunbayeva said no Uzbeks would be returned unless the country's situation changed

June 17 marked the peak of Kyrgyzstan's counter-revolutionary movement, which is apparently organized by Urmat Baryktabasov, a politician allied with ex-president Askar Akayev. The three months since Akayev's ouster in the March 24 Tulip Revolution have been very intense for Kyrgyzstan. There were two contract murders, several riots against and in favor of parliament members, hunger strikes by civic workers, and numerous political figures have faced accusations or lawsuits on corruption charges.

The winner of Kyrgyzstan’s special presidential election on July 10 seems pre-determined. Kurmanbek Bakiyev, the country’s interim chief executive, is expected to easily out-poll the five other candidates in the race. The big question surrounding the election is whether or not it will confer upon Bakiyev’s administration the legitimacy needed to promote stabilization.

Meder Usenov led anti-government protests in this southern city three months ago, throwing punches at police officers and urging crowds of demonstrators not to back off.

The protests — triggered by flawed parliamentary elections — spread to the rest of the south and to the capital Bishkek, where protesters stormed the presidential headquarters, forcing Soviet-era leader Askar Akayev to flee the country.

Many hope Sunday's election to replace him will bring stability to the central Asian nation of 5 million, unsettled by continuing protests and attacks against political figures.

Moments after frenzied Kyrgyz demonstrators seized control of their country's presidential headquarters March 24, Askat Tukenbayev strode through the looted building's hallways and soaked in the euphoric chaos of revolution.

"I remember thinking it was as if we had stormed the Bastille," said the slight, soft-spoken former teacher during a recent interview at a Bishkek cafe. "I grabbed a Turkish radio journalist's cell phone and yelled into it, `All power belongs to the people!' We were so full of hope."

The State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, ratified an agreement on the status and deployment terms of Russia's airbase in Kant, Kyrgyzstan.

The agreement was signed in Moscow in September 2003.

The base is to ensure Russia and Kyrgyzstan's sovereignty and security in cooperation with the Kyrgyz armed forces. The base will be used for military purposes in line with decisions made by both countries.

Kyrgyzstan is set to deport refugees accused of taking part in an insurrection in the Uzbek city of Andijan, the country's prosecutor-general said yesterday, rejecting assertions they face torture once in Uzbekistan.

"After July 9 we will begin to extradite the criminals to Uzbekistan," he said, referring to 13 of the 29 Uzbeks who fled the repression in Andijan and are currently in detention in Kyrgyzstan.

Kyrgyzstan's presidential poll showed "tangible progress" in democratic standards, foreign monitors concluded.
A statement by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said Sunday's election was rated either "good" or "very good".

The U.S. military base in Kyrgyzstan will eventually be withdrawn, Kyrgyz ambassador to Russia Apas Jumagulov told a news conference in Moscow.

“It will not happen any day now, but eventually it will,” the envoy said when asked on the prospects of the U.S. base’s withdrawal from Kyrgyz territory.

Kyrgyzstan's newly-elected president Kurmanbek Bakiyev on Monday questioned the continued presence of U.S. troops on a military base they have used since the 2001 war to oust the Taliban in Afghanistan.

A senior U.S. State Department official has declined to comment on acting President Kurmanbek Bakiyev statement that a deadline for the U.S. airbase's withdrawal from Kyrgyzstan had to be determined, deferring the question to the Pentagon.

Tom Casey, a State Department spokesman, said Tuesday the United States appreciated the support provided by the Central Asian republics, including Kyrgyzstan, for U.S.-led Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.

The people of Kyrgyzstan made their choice Sunday between a secular and an Islamic government by voting for Acting President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, regional expert Arkady Dubnov told a news conference.

Bakiyev won more than 88.5% of votes, and the republic's ombudsman Tursuntai Bakir-uulu garnered 3.9%, placing him second.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan welcomed on Monday the peaceful conduct of Sunday's presidential elections in Kyrgyzstan, which had been organized in just three months, with help from UN Development Program (UNDP), following the resignation of former President Askar Akaev in April.

"Preliminary reports indicate that the elections took place in a credible manner with strength and commitment to upholding international standards," said a UN spokesman in a statement issued in New York.

Not all of those who voted for Bakiyev genuinely supported his candidacy. Many voted for stability in the country, fearing the fragile situation could unravel if a national leader was not clearly defined. The Bakiyev-Kulov partnership was a key factor in Bakiyev gaining nation-wide approval. The Kyrgyz capital was especially skeptical about the elections, as looting and numerous demonstrations have plagued the city since March 24. Indeed, about 3% of Bishkek's registered voters voted "against all" candidates: "None of the candidates deserves the presidency. I voted against all, although this is not the way out," said one 32-year old entrepreneur from Bishkek. For some Kyrgyz the presidential race represented a choice between the lesser of two evils -- Bakiyev was regarded as the best possible figure among a field of rather unfamiliar candidates. His wide support is, therefore, susceptible to sharp decline.

The events in Kyrgyzstan suggest that either Russia or China was behind the change of power in the Central Asian republic rather than the U.S., a leading daily Nezavisimaya Gazeta reported Wednesday.

Under President Askar Akayev, an American military base was set up in Kyrgyzstan as part of the anti-terrorist operation in Afghanistan.

Parliament's upper house, the Federation Council, approved a treaty on Russia's airbase in Kyrgyzstan Wednesday after parliament's lower house, the State Duma, had ratified the document.

"The agreement creates a legal base for the operation of the Russian military base in Kyrgyzstan and meets Russia's long-term interests," deputy chairman of the Federation Council's committee for CIS affairs Andrei Ishchuk told reporters.

Russia is planning to at least double troop numbers at its air base in Kyrgyzstan, the head of the Russian air force said Wednesday.

'We intend to at least double our forces' at the Kant airbase close to the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek, Russia's official RIA Novosti news agency quoted General Vladimir Mikhailov as saying.

A top U.S. military officer, Gen. Richard B. Myers, accused Russia and China on Thursday of “trying to bully” smaller Central Asian nations that host U.S. troops and cooperate with Washington in fighting terrorism, Associated Press reported.

A regional alliance led by Russia and China called on the U.S. during a summit last week to name a date for withdrawing forces from bases in the former Soviet republics of Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.

This week, Kyrgyzstan made what is being called measurable progress towards democracy in holding peaceful presidential elections. It is a long way from the mass riots and looting of March that forced then-President Askar Akayev to flee the country amid discontent over flawed elections earlier in the year. Local analysts caution there is much work to be done to secure the goals of Kyrgyzstan's revolution.

Russia’s military originally announced last year it would boost its troop strength at the Kant air base in Kyrgyzstan, and that more war planes would be added at the base. However, the military set no time frame for the arrival of the new forces. The issue is now surfacing again, at a moment when the continued presence of U.S. troops at military bases in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan is coming under growing criticism.

The Kant air base was officially opened in October 2003 under the aegis of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), which groups Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan

A recent presidential election has helped stabilise Kyrgyzstan, which had teetered on the brink of chaos since a March coup, an official of the OSCE, Europe's main democracy watchdog, said on Monday.

Alojz Peterle, special envoy for the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), was speaking to reporters during a brief visit to the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek.

A decision on the future of the U.S. airbase in Kyrgyzstan will be made on a bilateral basis, said Avazbek Atakhanov, press secretary for the country's president-elect Kurmanbek Bakiyev.

"A decision on a timeframe for the American base's presence in the republic, not its withdrawal, will be made in the format of bilateral relations," Atakhanov told journalists on Monday.

At the July 5 Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Astana member states agreed to request a deadline for ending the U.S. military presence in Central Asia, now that the situation in neighboring Afghanistan has stabilized (see EDM, July 6). This request inevitably concerns Kyrgyzstan not only because the U.S. military has been stationed at the Manas International Airport in Bishkek since 2001, but also because many analysts think that the increased U.S. influence on the country's political life made the March 24 revolution possible.

The United States is concerned with the claims of former Soviet Central Asian states to withdraw U.S. military bases. It looks like U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld wants to solve the deal on the spot.

U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld plans to visit Kyrgyzstan next week, the Kyrgyz defense ministry said.

On July 20, Kyrgyzstan's Ministry of Defense announced that U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is expected to arrive on July 25. Rumsfeld will discuss the future of the U.S.-led air base Manas with the new Kyrgyz leadership, in the wake of Moscow- and Beijing-inspired demands to set a deadline on the presence of U.S.-led coalition forces in Central Asia. Meanwhile, French Defense Minister Michèle Aliot-Marie is arriving in Tajikistan on July 22 hoping to firm up the arrangements for French use of the Dushanbe and possibly also Kulob airports.

For its part, on July 20 Moscow again urged the Central Asian governments, through Collective Security Treaty Organization Secretary-General Nikolai Bordyuzha, to raise with the United States the issue of a deadline to the U.S.-led coalition's presence, in line with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization's (SCO) declaration at the July 5 summit in Kazakhstan (see EDM, July 6).

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law on an agreement between Russia and Kyrgyzstan on the status of and the deployment conditions for a Russian airbase in Kyrgyzstan, the presidential press service said.

The agreement was ratified by the State Duma, parliament's lower chamber, on July 8 and approved by the Federation Council, parliament's upper chamber, on July 13.

The Senate of the United States of America on July 20, 2005, accepted the administration bill providing allocation to Kyrgyzstan $35 millions to support democratic processes.

The document, authorized by Senators, assumes to render financial aid through Department of State almost to all post-Soviet countries. The total charges under clause “Assistance to new independent states of former Soviet Union” is $ 565 million.