Roberto Abraham Scaruffi

RFE/RL Central Asia Report 2/28/2011 6:51:37 PM A review of RFE/RL reporting and analysis about the five countries of Central Asia. For more stories on Central Asia, please visit and bookmark our Central Asia page .

 

Tajik President's Son Gets Customs Job The eldest son of Tajik President Emomali Rahmon was named to a senior position within the State Customs Service. More   Kyrgyz Protest Violent Drug Bust Relatives of people detained in a violent drug bust last fall in southern Kyrgyzstan picketed the office of the district governor today to demand his resignation. More   Four Arrested After Kazakh Blast Four persons have been detained in connection with an explosion outside a prison camp in Kazakhstan's western Aqtobe region. More   Turkmenistan Restricts School, University Teachers And Students Turkmen authorities have tightened their control over Turkmenistan's secondary schools and universities in the past week. More   New Delay In Tajik Libel Case A libel lawsuit by a regional Interior Ministry official against the independent weekly "Asia Plus" has been postponed by a Dushanbe court for the third time. More   Sentences Over Tajik 'Plot' Eased Tajik Appeals Court Judge Sanavbar Kholova told RFE/RL that the court decided to shorten by between five and eight years the sentences handed down to the supporters and relatives of the late Emergency Situations Minister Mirzo Ziyoev over an alleged antigovernment plot. More   A Female President For Kazakhstan? If you believe Central Asian women are reluctant to take part in politics, then think twice. More   House of Kazakh Opposition Leader's Relative Demolished A house near Almaty owned by a relative of Vladimir Kozlov, the leader of the opposition Algha (Forward) party, has been demolished by order of city officials. More   Independent Tajik Press Suffers From Ban On Street Sales Owners of independent Tajik newspapers are complaining that a new ban on selling newspapers on the streets of Dushanbe is hurting sales. More   Popular Kyrgyz Journalist Attacked A Kyrgyz journalist was severely beaten and hospitalized this week in Bishkek. More   Kazakh Official On Interpol Watchlist A man whose name and biographical data match that of Kazakh Deputy Prosecutor-General Askhat Daulbaev is on Interpol's wanted list. More   Kazakh Court Denies Uzbeks Asylum An Almaty city court has upheld a decision not to grant asylum to four Uzbek citizens wanted in Uzbekistan on charges of religious extremism and terrorism. More   Kyrgyz Bread Prices Shoot Up The price of bread has increased by some 8-10 percent in Kyrgyzstan in a single day, dealing a blow to households in one of post-Soviet Central Asia's poorest republics. More   Tajiks Seek Russian Help In Libya Tajik officials say they are trying to evacuate their citizens from Libya because of the dangerous unrest there. More   Turkmenistan Opens New Grand Bazaar In The Desert The new bazaar, Altyn Asyr, opened earlier this month, is a source of pride for Turkmenistan's government. The government has invested over $150 million to build it on the sands of the Kara-Kum Desert. More   Kazakh President Energized After China Trip Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev wraps up a visit to China and heads home with lucrative contracts to supply China with energy resources and promises of some $7 billion in Chinese loans for projects in Kazakhstan. More   Ukrainians Honor Dissident Patriarch A plaque was placed on the building housing the Kharkiv City Transport Inspection Police, site of a former Soviet-era transit jail in which Patriarch Yosyp spent several weeks in 1961 en route to a Siberian prison camp. More   Kyrgyz Demand Credible Probe Of Bloodshed Residents in the southern Kyrgyz city of Osh have urged parliament speaker Akhmatbek Keldibekov to ensure that the investigation into ethnic clashes between ethnic Uzbeks and Kyrgyz in June is thorough and fair. More   Kyrgyz Prosecutor Seeks Long Jail Terms The prosecutor at the trial of two former Kyrgyz officials charged with organizing mass disorder in two southern cities and attempting to seize power last year have asked the court to sentence them to long jail terms. More   Tajik Election Board Head Dismissed Tajik President Emomali Rahmon has replaced the head of the country's Central Election Commission. More   Tajikistan Ends Winter Electricity Curbs Tajikistan's state energy supplier has announced the early end of winter electricity rationing. More   $32Mln Earmarked For Kazakh Election The Kazakh government has allocated 4.7 billion tenges ($32 million) to hold the early presidential election on April 3. More   Kazakh President Visits China Kazakhstan and China are expected to sign a number of deals to deepen their already thriving cooperation during a state visit to Beijing by Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev. More   Kyrgyz President 'Won't Run' Again Kyrgyz President Roza Otunbaeva says she does not intend to run in the next presidential election scheduled for later this year. More   Proposed U.S. Budget Trims Assistance To Caucasus, Central Asia While the State Department isn't experiencing the same belt-tightening pressure as other branches of the U.S. government, an effort to cut corners -- and to free up funds for Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan -- has resulted in a proposed reduction in funding for assistance programs in Central Asia and the Caucasus in 2012. More   Tajiks Protest Home Demolitions Some 30 women staged a protest today outside the presidential palace in Dushanbe against the unannounced demolition of their homes. More