| September 18-September 25, 1999 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Gunmen in Kyrgyzstan renew attack on Uzbek enclave
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|  yrgyz forces fought off a new attempt overnight by Islamic guerrillas to cross into the Uzbek
enclave of Sokh, a senior Kyrgyz security official said on Wednesday.
One soldier was hurt in the shootout, according to Bolot Dzhanuzakov, head of the Kyrgyz Security Council.
"The fighters again tried to break through (to Sokh), but retreated back into the mountains under heavy fire," he told reporters.
Sokh is an enclave of Uzbekistan entirely surrounded by Kyrgyz territory -- the result of Soviet attempts in the 1920s to draw
Central Asian borders along ethnic lines.
Seven Kyrgyz soldiers died on Saturday in one of the fiercest battles to date with the rebels on the border with Sokh. Four more
were killed by a landmine near the enclave on Monday.
Kyrgyzstan is facing an invasion in the southwest by about 700 gunmen linked to Uzbekistan's radical Moslem opposition movement
who are holding hostages including four Japanese geologists.
The gunmen, who crossed into Kyrgyzstan from their stronghold in neighbouring Tajikistan, are trying to cross Kyrgyzstan territory
to reach neighbouring Uzbekistan where they want to start a holy war.
The small and poorly-equipped Kyrgyz army is struggling to contain the crisis.
Some of the gunmen are accused by Uzbek President Islam Karimov of trying to assassinate him in a February bomb campaign in
the capital Tashkent which killed 16 people and narrowly missed Karimov himself.
Dzhanuzakov said that Kyrgyz forces were working closely with Tajik and Uzbek troops to train for joint operations in difficult
mountain terrain.
The impoverished former Soviet republic of around five million inhabitants, which borders China to the east, has promised to raise
young soldiers' wages to $35 a month from $14 and lift officers' salaries to $105 from $35.
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Thirteen countries vow to revive ancient Silk Road
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|  hirteen countries including China, Uzbekistan and Turkey vowed to revive the ancient Silk
Road at a three-day international meeting ending on Wednesday, according to reports from the Uzbek capital of Tashkent.
The meeting held in Tashkent issued a declaration saying that to revive the ancient Silk Road, a transport corridor linking China,
Caucasus and the Europe, is important for improving the economic development of the countries along the line.
The Silk Road of more than 2,000 years-old had played an important role on the economic and cultural development of many
countries, as well as the civilization development of the entire human being, Uzbek President Islam Abduganiyevich Karimov said in
a congratulatory letter to the meeting.
To revive the great Silk Road has a realistic significance to maintain peace and stability, improve social and economic development
of the region, he said.
Addressing the meeting, Chinese Vice Minister of Communications Zhang Chunxian said that the ancient Silk Road had greatly
accelerated trade and cultural exchanges among China, central Asian and European countries.
In recent years, the Chinese government has signed agreements on transportation with Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and
Uzbekistan which opened up inland transport channel linking China with those countries, and represents an important step to revive
the Silk Road, Zhang said.
China would like to take a further step to promote auto transportation with central and western Asian countries along the Silk Road
to boost commerce and travel with those countries, he added.
The declaration of the meeting also said that settling disputes in border demarcation, removing contrived obstacles to transportation
and creating a good transport environment are important to trade among the countries.
The meeting proposed to set up a council of transportation and communications ministers of these countries, and a standing
administration body.
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Japanese-Uzbek relations stable, beneficial Ambassador
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|  conomic relations between Japan and Uzbekistan are stable and mutually
advantageous, Japanese Ambassador to Uzbekistan Keko Nakayama said.
Nakayama, who presented her credentials to Uzbek President Islam Karimov a month ago, told Itar-Tass on Saturday that
Japan realises the importance of Uzbekistan's geopolitical and economic position in Central Asia and tries to help improve it.
Trade is one of the important areas of cooperation. Last year alone, trade turnover between Japan and Uzbekistan reached 120
million U.S. dollars. Uzbekistan exported almost 50 million U.S. dollars worth of goods and services and imported over 70
million U.S. dollars. It sold Japan gold, zinc and cotton in exchange of high-tech equipment, including communications equipment
which accounted for up to 42 percent of the total, she said.
She stressed that Japanese partners are engaged in many national projects in Uzbekistan, including the modernisation and
construction of oil and gas enterprises where Japanese banks invested over 500 million U.S. dollars.
Humanitarian projects are a special area of cooperation, the ambassador noted. Japan has provided medical equipment,
vaccines and medications to Uzbekistan to a total amount of more than two million U.S. dollars.
Speaking about the immediate future, Nakayama said the two countries plan to sign documents on the second stage of
expansion of telecommunications networks in Uzbekistan and modernisation of three Uzbek airports. The projects are estimated
at 130 million U.S. dollars.
Another important area of cooperation includes contacts between Japanese and Uzbek experts, technical assistance, exchange
of specialists, research, and training of specialists for Uzbekistan, she said.
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Uzbek foreign minister says Tajiks support guerrillas in Kyrgyzstan
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|  zbek Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Kamilov said on Friday guerrillas holding Japanese
hostages in southern Kyrgyzstan were being supported by Tajikistan's Islamic opposition movement.
"We have every reason to say today that behind the armed groups which crossed into Kyrgyz territory stands the United Tajik
Opposition and extremist forces from Afghanistan and other countries," Kamilov told a news briefing.
The United Tajik Opposition has denied involvement. It says the gunmen, who crossed into Kyrgyzstan from Tajik territory, are
Uzbek militants with bases in neighbouring Tajikistan.
Kamilov said Uzbekistan had intercepted radio messages from the fighters hiding in Kyrgyzstan's remote Batken region to bases
in northeastern Tajikistan during which they said they would keep the hostages for as long as possible.
The guerrillas last month seized four Japanese geologists who had been working in Kyrgyzstan, along with Kyrgyz hostages.
Kyrgyzstan says its priority is to see the hostages freed unharmed but refuses to hold official talks with the rebels.
Kamilov said Uzbek rebel Dzhuma Namangani, who fled his country in 1992, was directing operations in Kyrgyzstan from Tajik
territory. Namangani was accused by Uzbek President Islam Karimov of trying to assassinate him in February when a series of
bomb blasts killed 16 in Tashkent.
Hundreds of guerrillas left Tajikistan nearly a month ago, apparently on their way to launch an armed campaign in Uzbekistan via
Kyrgyzstan's southwestern tip. Kyrgyzstan has refused to give them safe passage to Uzbekistan, and says it has their paths
northwards blocked.
Kamilov accused the Tajik opposition, which is being integrated into Tajikistan's Moscow-backed secular government as part of
a 1997 ceasefire agreement, of keeping some units armed and hidden in areas under its control for future campaigns.
The UTO fought a bloody civil war with government forces from 1992 to 1997.
The Kyrgyz crisis has seen already tense relations between neighbours Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan sour further, and
has raised concern over political and social stability in the ethnically volatile and impoverished Central Asian region.
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OSCE head to pay visits to five Central Asian countries
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|  SCE chairman in office Knut Vollebaek will pay visits to five Central Asian countries.
The Norwegian Foreign Ministry press service said on Thursday that Vollebaek will visit Turkmenia, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan,
Kirghizia and Kazakhstan from September 28 to October 4.
This trip was planned several months ago, but was postponed in connection with NATO's aggression against Yugoslavia.
Vollebaek will meet the leadership of these countries, the foreign ministers, parliament members and will visit the OSCE missions
in these states.
The OSCE head has a rather busy schedule. He is currently in the Caucasus and next week he will accompany King Harald V
of Norway when he makes a state visit to Romania.
Active work is being done by preparing the OSCE summit to be held in Istanbul on November 18-19. The summit is expected
to adopt a charter on European security.
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Tajik, Uzbek presidents have telephone conversation
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| ajik President Emomali Rakhmonov had a telephone conversation with Uzbek leader
Islam Karimov on Tuesday to discuss the regional security and measures against organized crime, spokesman for the Tajik
President Zafar Sayedov told Itar-Tass.
The conversation "was traditionally frank" and Islam Karimov reaffirmed Uzbekistan's "support to the Tajik policy of democratic
transformations and the successful finalizing of the peace process."
According to confidential sources, the two Presidents discussed the recent statement of the Uzbek Foreign Minister on the
involvement of certain forces of Tajikistan in the developments in the Osh region.
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Gunmen kill five Kyrgyz troops in latest battle
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|  ive Kyrgyz troops were killed and three injured on Monday when guerrillas ambushed them
close to the southern village of Gaz, a defence ministry spokesman said on Tuesday.
He said it appeared that the rebels, who are hiding in the remote mountain regions of Batken and Chon-Alai, used a grenade
launcher in the attack.
Hundreds of gunmen linked to Uzbekistan's radical Islamic opposition crossed into Kyrgyzstan from their stronghold in
neighbouring Tajikistan a month ago. They are still holding around a dozen hostages including four Japanese geologists.
They are believed to be aiming to cross into Uzbekistan via Kyrgyzstan's southwestern tip to launch a campaign of terror against
Uzbek President Islam Karimov and his government.
The village of Gaz lies on the border of the Sokh enclave -- a small piece of Uzbekistan entirely surrounded by Kyrgyz territory
and the bizarre result of attempts by Soviet mapmakers in the 1920s to divide Central Asia along ethnic lines.
The gunmen's biggest attack to date last Saturday was also on the border of the enclave. Seven Kyrgyz and at least two rebels
were killed in and around the village of Syrt during four hours of heavy fighting.
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Cell of extremist Hizb-I Tahrir party exposed in Tajikistan
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|  n underground group of extremist religious party Hizb-i Tahrir (the Correction
Party) founded by Uzbek fundamentalists has been revealed in the Leninabad region of Tajikistan. Several party members were
caught in the act of spreading extremist leaflets in the regional centre of Khojend on Sunday.
The leaflets were calling upon population to create an Islamic theocratic state in Central Asia, and to support the Uzbek
fundamentalists.
According to the Tajik Security Ministry, the investigation bodies have got extensive information about the underground cells of
that extremist party. The names of its functionaries are also well known. Criminal proceedings have been instituted against them.
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