Weekly news wrap

This week in Central Asia was dominated by reports of parliamentary elections in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, and reaction from observers and rights groups. While the election bodies of the two former Soviet republics said the polls were broadly free and fair, many international observers, including the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), criticised them, saying they fell short of international standards. In Tajikistan, the UN secretary-general's representative said on Thursday that parliamentary elections in the country reflected the contradictions of the post-conflict period, the Tajik Avesta news agency reported. The former Soviet republic saw a five-year civil war in the mid 1990s that claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people. Vladimir Sotirov, head of the United Nations Tajikistan Office of Peace-building (UNTOP), also expressed concern over a statement by four political parties that they would withdraw from the Public Council, a body representing various sectors of the society, if their complaints about the poll were not taken into account. "Ceasing the dialogue at the level of the Public Council in itself is a dangerous step that threatens the efforts being made by the nation and political parties in the country's post-conflict development," Sotirov said. In Uzbekistan, Tashkent called off a visit scheduled for Wednesday by British under-secretary of state for foreign and commonwealth affairs, Bill Rammell, in response to his criticisms of the country's human rights record, AFP reported on Tuesday. "The trip has been cancelled. It is the Uzbek government's decision in response to the minister's undertaking to continue to press over human rights," a spokesman for the Uzbek foreign ministry said. Tashkent has repeatedly been criticised by Western countries, rights campaigners and officials from some international organisations, over its poor human rights record, including the Uzbek security forces' alleged systematic use of torture. Bill Rammell made his intentions plain well before the trip, BBC reported, noting that he wanted to press the government on human rights and to meet members of civic society, as well as Uzbek officials. Turkmenistan and Afghanistan have agreed to accelerate work on a long-delayed pipeline intended to carry natural gas to India, the AP reported on Tuesday. Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov's office said that Niyazov and Afghan President Hamid Karzai discussed the project over the telephone on Monday following a visit by Karzai to India last week. New Dehli is weighing up whether to meet its expanding energy needs with pipelines from Turkmenistan or Iran, both of which would pass through archrival Pakistan, casting doubts about the viability of the project. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is the main sponsor of the Turkmen-Afghan pipeline project, set to cost at least US $3.5 billion. The 1,680-km pipeline, on which construction is to due begin next year, is to run through Herat and Kandahar in Afghanistan, the Pakistani cities of Quetta and Multan and on to the Indian border town of Fazilka. On Thursday, it was reported that Niyazov had ordered nature reserves to close and allow them to be used as pastures. Niyazov was quoted by the Russian PRIMA news agency as saying the reserves and protected areas were opened in the Soviet era, but now allowing Turkmens to graze their flocks on those territories would provide much greater benefits. "What do we need nature reserves for now?" Niyazov asked local authorities rhetorically. Niyazov, president and chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers, has been ruling the country since 1990. He was approved as president for life by parliament in 1999.