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News Roundup

Posted by CXW | in Round up | on November 28th, 2005

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Another reasonably low profile news week, so in no particular order:

The debate surrounding Russian and its status is rumbling on, with IWPR picking up the story and rightly noting that the issue is not just a largely academic debate, but one that has far more wide-reaching implications:

The recurring issue of language policy in Kyrgyzstan is much more than an abstract matter for academic debate, as it tends to raise awkward questions about identity and nationhood, and who is embraced within those concepts.

So far virtually every point of view has been expressed, but it seems that the “how” question in relation to actually increase usage of Kyrgyz - legislation can only get one so far if there are more fundamental issues such a lack of teachers and materials. A more measured, pragmatic, long-term approach would be very welcome, rather than the knee-jerk political polemicising we’re seeing at the moment that is only adding to many people’s sense of disillusionment with the government and uncertainty in the future.

Interfax reports that the General Prosecutor Kambaraly Kongantiyev has highlighted religious extremism as a serious threat to Kyrgyzstan, arguing that terrorist groups and organised criminal groups are merging and that current efforts to curb the activities of both groups by Kyrgyzstani law enforcement agencies are inadequate. Kongantiyev also noted that a new wave of property redistribution has begun in the republic, with criminal elements continuing to show their influence on the current situation. Echoing this point of view is a Monsters and Critics article noting that crime rates have grown significantly since March in the country which also cites the General Prosectors comments.

Interfax reports that a new political party has been formed - the Union of Democratic Forces. The party’s co-chair, Parliamentary Deputy Kubatbek Baibolov, set out the party’s position:

…signs of a crisis can be seen in Kyrgyzstan. … The credit of trust in the authorities is being exhausted and citizens are unhappy with the situation. The crisis is rooted in the new leadership’s inability to ensure economic growth and to increase people’s incomes. The private sector is moving its assets outside Kyrgyzstan. Nothing is being done to fight corruption. There has been an ideological havoc. Criminals have been influencing the authorities, and there has been a cold war between individual groupings in the government and parliament…

The party is apparently advocating constitutional reform and a move to a parliamentary republic, and is calling for the creation of a single development strategy for the next 10 - 15 years.

RFE/RL (finally) ran a short piece on the by-elections that were held yesterday in Bishkek’s Tunduk district and the southern Aksy district, noting mainly that former diplomat and “revolutionary” Roza Otunbaeva stood as a candidate in the Tunduk district, as did Akaev’s last prime minister Nikolai Tanaev, and that former General Prosecutor and opposition politician Azimbek Beknazarov stood in Aksy. No results as yet (it’s only middday), but in the case of the Tunduk district, many people saw it as a single horse race, with businessman Djanysh Kudaibergenov the favourite to win in what has been a far from good natured campaign.

Looking more widely on the national and regional levels, a couple of articles are worth a look. First up is the Boston Herald with an article ominously entitled “Kyrgyzstan at crossroads: Asian nation could be a democracy or a disaster” that links very nicely with Shirin’s article on students and concludes with a call for Kyrgyzstan to decisively make room for its youth and democracy. Slightly more in conspiracy theory mode (though only in terms of accusing the US of wilfully interfering, not his conclusions about regional interdependence) is Regnum’s article which cites an Uzbek political analyst’s accusation that the US is trying to split Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, who sees programmes - in this case concerning power supplies in the south of Kyrgyzstan - that are conducted only in one country as a dangerous trend for the region:

[The] countries of this region are depending on each other in many spheres. Even if we forget about humanitarian aspects of proximity, there are many economic factors that can be a basis for regional integration,” thinks the expert. According to him, in such way one must observe the signing of a granting agreement between governments of Kyrgyzstan and the US on preparation of project “Improvement of power supplies in south Kyrgyzstan”.

“I think, that the Kyrgyz side signed this document because of pressure from the US ambassador to Kyrgyzstan. The words of Economic Minister Akylbek Japarov, that the Kyrgyz side delayed the signing of this document because of objective and subjective reasons, confirm my opinion. Probably, the Kyrgyz government understands the uselessness of this project, because the power network of Central Asia is united, and any unsanctioned single-sided actions can disrupt the condition of the whole system.

That’s about it for the moment. Hopefully there’ll be an opinion piece or two coming up later in the week to add to Shirin’s latest and help break the monotony of newsroundups a little more.

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