From: Justin Burke (JBurke@sorosny.org)
Date: Mon Aug 21 2000 - 10:30:33 EDT
CENTRAL ASIAN PRESIDENTS DISCUSS KYRGYZ FIGHTING
Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbaev, Uzbekistan's
Islam Karimov, Tajik President Imomali Rakhmonov, and Russian
Security Council Secretary Sergei Ivanov met with President
Akaev in Bishkek on 20 August to discuss the fighting on
Kyrgyzstan's southern border, RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau
reported. The four Central Asia presidents issued a joint
declaration of readiness to cooperate in the fight against
"terrorism." But in an allusion to Ivanov's proposal three
months ago to launch air strikes against Taliban bases in
Afghanistan, they made clear that they oppose any preventive air strikes against
the
territory of other independent states. They also appealed to
Russia to accede to the Tashkent agreement on combating
terrorism and organized crime and to the UN Security Council to devote greater
attention to security problems in Central Asia. LF
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