A bid by the nominal Kyrgyz president, Kurmanbek Bakiyev, to stage a comeback in Kyrgyzstan's second largest city, Osh, ended in fiasco on April 15 after he was forced to beat an ignominious retreat amid chaotic competing demonstrations.
State-controlled media outlets in Kazakhstan have been competing to outdo each other with flattering portrayals of President Nursultan Nazarbayev's one-on-one meeting with Barack Obama on April 11. Kazakhstani news outlets also indicate that Astana is planning to host an Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe summit in November, apparently with or without a US endorsement.
Three days after the collapse of Kurmanbek Bakiyev's administration, Kyrgyzstan's new leadership is treading delicately as it strives to coax the nominal president into resigning. Provisional government representatives in southern Kyrgyzstan say they don't know Bakiyev's exact whereabouts, and add that some of his most zealous supporters have access to arms.
The jailing in Kazakhstan of an opposition leader on charges of holding an unsanctioned rally is stoking fresh concerns over the fairness of the judicial system in the country currently chairing the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
Kazakhstani President Nursultan Nazarbayev got what he wanted out of Uzbekistan. During talks in Tashkent on March 17, Nazarbayev secured Uzbek support for his cherished aim of hosting a summit of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) later this year.
The former boss of Kazakhstan's nuclear industry has been sentenced to 14 years in prison on corruption charges amid claims that the trial was politically motivated.
Mukhtar Dzhakishev, the 46-year-old former head of the Kazatomprom state nuclear giant, was sentenced on March 12 following a two-month closed trial in Astana.
As Kazakhstan chairs the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) this year, its human rights record is coming under scrutiny. Kazakhstani officials, in responding to expressions of concern about some aspects of the country's democratization process, insist they are taking steps to make improvements.
