by Erica Marat (06/26/2013 issue of the CACI Analyst)
The Kyrgyz parliament has voted to support President Almazbek Atambaev’s decision to renounce the contract for the U.S. transit center at Manas airport. The main reasons for the parliament’s vote were primarily a response to the Kremlin’s decision to write off a large chunk of Kyrgyzstan’s debt and to Moscow’s promise to construct hydropower plants in Kyrgyzstan, as well as to Washington’s abrupt decision to dismiss criminal charges against Maksim Bakiev, son of former president Kurmanbek Bakiev. In the meantime, uncertainty lingers regarding the finality of the parliament’s decision and how the president will proceed with his plan to build an international transit hub at Manas once the U.S. leaves.
by Aigul Kasymova (06/12/2013 issue of the CACI Analyst)
The 108th Session of the UN Human Rights Committee is scheduled to take place July 8-26, 2013 in Geneva, Switzerland. During the session, the committee will review Kyrgyzstan, where the human rights situation has changed significantly since its last review 13 years ago. Kyrgyzstan has experienced two revolutions leading to the overthrow of two governments and the establishment of a Parliamentary system, and a violent inter-ethnic conflict between ethnic Kyrgyz and the Uzbek minority in southern Kyrgyzstan in the summer of 2010. The session will also review two other post-Soviet states, Ukraine and Tajikistan. The last review of Kyrgyzstan by the UN Human Rights Committee took place in July 2000 during its 69th session in Geneva.
by John C. K. Daly (06/12/2013 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Last month’s demonstrations outside Kyrgyzstan’s Kumtor gold mine have highlighted local and governmental dissatisfaction with the terms of its existing 2009 contract with Toronto-based Centerra Gold Inc. The Kyrgyz government has given the company until October 1 to offer revised terms, threatening to nationalize the company if it does not agree. Given the importance of the site to both Centerra Gold Inc. and the Kyrgyz government as a revenue source, a compromise would seem to be the eventual outcome. Whether or not that can be achieved will depend upon the protracted negotiations currently underway between Centerra Gold Inc. and Bishkek.
The Central Asia-Caucasus Analyst is a biweekly publication of the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute & Silk Road Studies Program, a Joint Transatlantic Research and Policy Center affiliated with the American Foreign Policy Council, Washington DC., and the Institute for Security and Development Policy, Stockholm. For 15 years, the Analyst has brought cutting edge analysis of the region geared toward a practitioner audience.
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