[stu]

Moscow to double air base forces in Kyrgyzstan

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.

[stu]

U.S. Military Accuses Russia, China of Bullying Ex-Soviet Republics

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.

Analysts: Kyrgyz Revolution is Incomplete

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.

[stu]

KYRGYZSTAN: RUSSIA HOPES TO DOUBLE TROOPS AT BASE, AS FUTURE OF U.S. BASE IN DOUBT

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

OSCE envoy says Kyrgyzstan more stable after polls

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.

U.S. base's presence in Kyrgyzstan a bilateral issue - Atakhanov

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.

[stu]

KYRGYZ EXPERTS OPPOSE BISHKEK'S DECISION TO LIMIT U.S. MILITARY PRESENCE

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.

Rumsfeld to visit Kyrgyzstan amid calls for U.S. military to set withdrawal date

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.

[stu]

RUMSFELD EXPECTED IN KYRGYZSTAN TO SETTLE BASE ISSUE

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).

Putin signs law on Russian airbase in Kyrgyzstan

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.

USA to allocate to Kyrgyzstan $35 mln for support of democratic processes

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.

[savethehumans]

Sending Rumsfeld, huh? Bush World must be REALLY worried!

[J-Rod]

U.S. outflanks Kremlin, Beijing on Kyrgyz base

MOSCOW -- Facing pressure from Russia and China to end America's military presence in two Central Asian states, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld won assurances Tuesday from Kyrgyzstan's new leaders that they would not shut down a U.S. base on Kyrgyz soil used for combat and humanitarian missions in Afghanistan.

Chicago Tribune

[stu]

Kyrgyzstan still refusing to hand over refugees to Uzbekistan

Kyrgyzstan does not intend to hand over refugees who fled Uzbekistan after the Andijan uprising, a Kyrgyz Foreign Ministry official said.

Zafar Hakimov, director of the Foreign Ministry's migration service department, said the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) had granted asylum status to 439 of the 455 Uzbek refugees who fled to Kyrgyzstan and have since been transferred to Romania. The remaining 15 Uzbek refugees are being detained in the southern Kyrgyz town of Osh. Four of them have not been granted asylum status because they have been charged with the murder of Andijan's prosecutor general and are awaiting trial, Hakimov said.

ANTICLIMACTIC END TO KYRGYZ REVOLUTION

Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev's August 14 inauguration demonstrated that Western expectations and Russian fears of a democratic revolution in Kyrgyzstan were equally misplaced. By the same token, the inauguration and its immediate aftermath highlighted the daunting cultural distance to democracy that Kyrgyzstan (and some of its neighbors) need to travel. The inauguration and post-inauguration events also indicated an increase in Russian influence at Western expense, and of Kazakhstan's influence at Uzbekistan's expense in Kyrgyzstan.

[stu]

China, Kyrgyzstan to strengthen military cooperation

Beijing and Bishkek are ready to strengthen cooperation between their armed forces, the Chinese defense minister said Tuesday.

Cao Gangchuan, China's defense minister and deputy chairman of the Central Military Council, held a meeting with Kyrgyz Defense Minister Ismail Isakov Tuesday, the Xinhua news agency reported.

Kyrgyzstan fears more Uzbek refugees in hiding

Three more refugees who fled a bloody government crackdown in Uzbekistan in May have applied for asylum in Kyrgyzstan, Kyrgyz officials said on Tuesday, adding to fears hundreds more may be hiding in the country.

The news, which follows the evacuation to Romania of nearly 500 registered refugees, threatens to reignite a diplomatic row with neighbouring Uzbekistan, which on Tuesday accused the United Nations and Kyrgyzstan of protecting "terrorists".

[stu]

Kyrgyzstan not to return the refugees back to Uzbekistan

Kyrgyzstan is not intended to return Uzbek refugees, fled their homeland after the May Andijan events, back to Uzbekistan, director of the Migration Service Department of the KR Zafar Hakimov told “Novosti” News Agency.

“We are not going to return the refugees back ”, - he said.

It’s inadmissible to divide Kyrgyzstan into north, south – Bakiyev

President Kurmanbek Bakiyev said it is inadmissible to divide Kyrgyzstan in the “south” and the “north”.

Speaking at a meeting with the leadership of ministries and local administrations on Monday, Bakiyev said, “It is inadmissible to divide our people.”

[stu]

KYRGYZSTAN: IS THE PRESIDENT LOSING INTEREST IN CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM?

When he led the opposition, Kurmanbek Bakiyev was a strong supporter of amending Kyrgyzstan’s constitution in order to establish a solid system of checks and balances. Now that Bakiyev has been inaugurated as Kyrgyzstan’s president, however, civil society activists and some politicians are growing concerned that he is losing his zest for placing firmer limits on executive authority.

A driving force behind the March 24 revolution in Kyrgyzstan was popular opposition to then-president Askar Akayev’s accumulation of power. After Akayev’s ouster, provisional leaders convened a Constitutional Council charged with drafting amendments to redistribute authority among the branches of government. Now, four months after the council first met, it seems bogged down by divisive debate and a frequent lack of quorum.

Uzbekistan keeps insisting on return of 15 Uzbeks from Kyrgyzstan

Uzbekistan keeps insisting on the return of 15 Uzbek citizens who are kept in the detention ward in the Kyrgyz city of Osh, the Uzbek Prosecutor General’s Office said in a press release transmitted to Itar-Tass on Thursday.

“The office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees exerts unprecedented pressure on the Kyrgyz government,” ready to send abroad “15 criminals as refugees” that are kept in the Osh detention ward, the document said.

[stu]

KYRGYZSTAN’S REVOLUTION AT RISK

Kyrgyzstan’s revolution is at risk of unraveling, as the country’s new president and parliament find themselves on a collision course.

Two recent developments – the dismissal of Azimbek Beknazarov as prosecutor general, and the assassination of MP Bayaman Erkinbayev – have lifted the lid off a long-simmering power struggle involving the executive and legislative branches. The incidents also underscored the prominent role of criminal elements in Kyrgyzstani politics.

[stu]

Presidents of Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan carried out bilateral negotiations

The President of Kyrgyzstan Kurmanbek Bakiev and President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov during bilateral negotiations [during session of Central Asian Cooperation Organization in St. Petersburg] on October 6, 2005, have noted necessity of filling the Kyrgyz-Uzbek relations with new contents.

The Presidents confirmed intentions to develop bilateral cooperation directed on forward development of traditional good-neighborhood and mutually advantageous relations in spirit of the Agreement about eternal friendship between KR and RU from December 24, 1996.

[stu]

Slightly old news but still important.

NATO to Intensify Use of Air Base in Kyrgyzstan

A senior NATO official says U.S.-led coalition forces plan to increase their use of the US air base in Kyrgyzstan, now that neighboring Uzbekistan has ordered American forces off a base there.

NATO's special representative for the Caucasus and Central Asia, Robert Simmons, made the announcement on Monday during his visit to the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek.

[stu]

Two dismissed Kyrgyz officials to run for parliament

Prominent Kyrgyz politicians Roza Otunbayeva and Azimbek Beknazarov, colored revolution leaders, who have recently lost their official posts, have been nominated as parliamentary candidates by the Kyrgyzstan political coalition of nine parties that opposed ex-President Askar Akayev.

[stu]

Kyrgyzstan lets U.S. keep using key base

Kyrgyzstan assured the United States on Tuesday it could keep its air base in the former Soviet Central Asian state, a relief to Washington which is being ejected from nearby Uzbekistan.

President Kurmanbek Bakiyev said at a joint news conference with visiting Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that the 1,000 troops could stay as long as they were needed to fly supply missions into Afghanistan in the fight against the Taliban.

[stu]

Kyrgyzstan, US admit need for stay of coalition forces

Kyrgyzstan and the US agree about the need of the stay on the Kyrgyz territory of an air base of the international anti-terrorist coalition, says a statement signed on Tuesday by the Central Asian republic’s President Kurmanbek Bakiyev and visiting US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Their statement was not made public earlier than on Wednesday because experts have been finalizing it.

[stu]

Kyrgyzstan to seek Russian help in arresting Aidar Akayev

The Kyrgyz Prosecutor General's Office intends to seek assistance from the Russian Prosecutor General's Office in its search for former Kyrgyz President Askar Akayev's son Aidar Akayev, the office's press service told Interfax on Friday.

"Owing to the fact that the parliament stripped Aidar Akayev of his parliamentary privileges, the Prosecutor General's office is preparing materials in its search for him and is to seek help in the search from the Russian Prosecutor Generals' Office," the press service said.

[stu]

President: Kyrgyzstan's Security at Risk

Kyrgyzstan's security is at risk from unrest in nearby Afghanistan, the president of the former Soviet republic said Saturday, calling for stronger diplomatic efforts to ensure security.

Kyrgyzstan neighbors China and hosts both U.S.-allied and Russian air bases. Earlier this week, Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev reassured visiting Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that U.S.-led troops supporting combat operations in Afghanistan could stay in Kyrgyzstan as long as the war on terror continues.

[stu]

No threat of new revolution in Kyrgyzstan - president

Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev has said there is no threat of any revolution in Kyrgyzstan.

"I want to tell all our opponents who are predicting crises, disintegration and revolutions that there will be no disintegration, crisis or revolution," he said at an expanded Cabinet session on Saturday. The presidential press service quoted his speech on Monday.