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A prominent human rights activist in Uzbekistan was severely beaten by unknown assailants in the capital, Tashkent, on Thursday. Surat Ikramov, the leader of an independent human rights group, was admitted to hospital with concussion, two broken ribs and numerous bruises. Ikramov is said to have told reporters from his hospital bed that four men had beaten him for an hour. "I was expecting it," he said, adding that he had been getting threats on the phone before the incident. Earlier this month in Uzbekistan, Ruslan Sharipov, a human rights acitivist and a journalist, who has been critical of Uzbek law-enforcement bodies, was sentenced to five and a half years in jail by an Uzbek court for having gay sex with two under aged boys. Some rights activist argued that the trial was politically motivated. On Tuesday, some 500 oil refinery workers in the eastern Uzbek town of Ferghana gathered to demand wage arrears. Aggrieved employees of other enterprises in Ferghana were prevented from joining the protest by the police. This was the third protest by workers in the town, which is lies in the heart of Central Asia's densely populated Ferghana Valley. Staying in that country, a Pennsylvania congressman said on Wednesday that the US had no plans to withdraw its troops from Uzbekistan and was committed to its strategic partnership with the country. Curt Weldon, a Republican, reportedly said the US troops, deployed at Khanabad base in the south of the country since late 2001, would stay there "as long as the people of Uzbekistan and its leadership want them there. We are happy to be here. We see no reason to leave this country." In neighbouring Kyrgyzstan, the staunchest opponents of Kyrgyz President Askar Akayev on 23 August pledged to unite their efforts in order to oust him from office. "We must find ways to end Akayev's 12-year rule," Azimbek Beknazarov, a leader of the Movement for Akayev's Resignation, said in the western Kyrgyz town of Kerben, the centre of Aksy District, where five peaceful demonstrators protesting against Beknazarov's arrest were shot dead by police in March 2002. The new US Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan, Stephen Young, had expressed an interest in assisting the country in regional cooperation and security issues, the US Embassy in the capital, Bishkek, said in a statement on Wednesday. "I want to explore avenues to promote greater regional cooperation, especially in the economic arena," Young said on Tuesday, adding that the countries in the region had to look for ways of strengthening security cooperation. The Kyrgyz Kabar news agency reported on Wednesday that the IMF was satisfied with the macroeconomic situation in Kyrgyzstan, adding that this sentiment was noted during a meeting between the Kyrgyz parliament's Speaker, Altay Borubayev, and Tapio Saavalainen, the head of the IMF's European Department. In Turkmenistan, the new US ambassador said on Monday that she expected good cooperation with the authorities during her tenure. "I told the president that I want to work in close cooperation with him and other Turkmen officials, including on education exchange programmes and security," Ambassador Tracey Ann Jacobson reportedly said. To the north, in Kazakhstan, the Vatican reportedly said on Tuesday it hoped the inter-faith forum to be held on 23 and 24 September in the capital, Astana, could help promote peace and goodwill in the human family and respect for the rights of all. The Vatican is planning to send a large delegation, led by Cardinal Jozef Tomko, the former head of the church's missionary arm. Kazakh media said the same day that returnee ethnic Kazakhs, known as oralmans, now back in the country and living in Astana, were planning to set up a public organisation to defend their rights. Representatives of the oralmans reportedly said at a meeting with Astana's department for migration and demography that lack of housing and registration problems were just some of the many unresolved issues. It was reported on Wednesday that the Kazakh state oil and gas company Kazmunaigaz and offshore oil company Kazmunaiteniz had started preparations to research four Caspian Sea deposits at Darhan, Nursultan, Uluitau and Rakushechnoe More, located in the Kazakh part of the Caspian seabed. Hydrocarbon reserves at the Darhan field could range between 440 million mt and 1,100 million mt, and are estimated at 349 million mt at Nursultan and 366 million mt at Rakushechnoe More. Meanwhile, an international conference on fresh water facilitated by the United Nations Development Programme is set to open in the Tajik capital, Dushanbe, this weekend as a step towards finding ways of solving serious water-related problems in Central Asia.

This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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