Mina Corp, the secretive fuel supplier to the US-led Manas air base near Bishkek, may not care much for the newly formed coalition between Ata-Meken, the Social Democratic Party and Respublika.
As EurasiaNet.org previously observed: “Some powerful Kyrgyz politicians, including the Social Democratic Party chairman, Almazbek Atambayev, and the Respublika Party leader, Omurbek Babanov, are noted opponents of Mina Corp’s fuel supply role. Both Atambayev and Babanov may soon occupy influential positions in the Kyrgyz cabinet, depending on the outcome of coalition talks in Bishkek.”
Mina Corp has sought to portray Babanov, who will be first deputy prime minister in the new government, as something of a rival. His nephew, Janybek Sagadylda uulu runs a fuel company, Atek Oil.
In an interview with EurasiaNet.org in August, Sagadylda uulu insisted that Atek Oil had no interest in doing business with the Manas air base.
When asked if Atek Oil would be interested in doing so in the future, the answer was a flat “no.”
Sources privy to the ongoing US-Kyrgyz negotiations privately venture that this may be Mina Corp’s last year as the fuel supplier to Manas. But in the unpredictable world of Kyrgyz politics, that could be a year longer than this new coalition lasts.
A US Congressional investigation into the operations of Mina Corp, a Gibraltar-registered company that holds the Pentagon’s fuel-delivery contract at Manas Transit Center in Kyrgyzstan, is drawing to a close, having found no evidence of wrongdoing. But US officials are not ruling out the possibility of a follow-up investigation at a future date.
It seems the $315 million contract awarded by the Pentagon to a controversial and secretive fuel-supplier is only part of the story about future operations at Kyrgyzstan’s Manas Transit Center.
Mina Corp, the controversial supplier of jet fuel at the Manas Transit Center in Kyrgyzstan, is getting a double-dose of good news. Not only has the company secured a new supply contract worth over $315 million, a Kyrgyz government investigation into possible improper business practices concerning Manas fuel operations has stalled.
In a move that could strain Washington’s relationship with Kyrgyzstan, a key Central Asian ally, the Pentagon opted November 3 to award a new fuel-supply contract to a company that is already at the center of a US congressional probe.
A corruption crackdown is picking up speed in Kyrgyzstan. Forty-two new criminal cases involving the alleged theft of state assets are now underway against formerly high-ranking government officials. Among the looted assets are hundreds of millions of dollars in Russian economic assistance.
It would be up to the Afghan National Police (ANP) to provide security for US military fuel and supply convoys bound for Afghanistan, along with storage depots inside the country, if a ban on private security firms is implemented. Experts believe such a potential development would be a disaster waiting to happen.
Representatives of the Russian energy giant Gazprom confirm that the company is poised to participate in a joint venture to supply fuel to the US-run Manas Transit Center, a key logistics hub for US and NATO forces in Afghanistan.
Tajikistan seems to be angling for a quid-pro-quo deal with Russia in which Dushanbe grants Moscow access to the Ayni air base in return for the Kremlin’s help in resolving a water-related dispute with Uzbekistan. Analysts are skeptical that the Kremlin will bite.
Russian frustration is rising with NATO’s “incomprehensible passivity” in efforts to contain Afghanistan’s growing drugs output. It has reached a point where some politicians in Moscow are starting to call for an active Russian military presence in Central Asia.
