Weekly news wrap

With only a month left until presidential elections in Kazakhstan, Europe's largest security and cooperation body urged the former Soviet republic on Monday to lift rigid rules on Web site registration, saying they contradicted freedom of expression in the country. The Kazakh authorities introduced new rules in June that require any Kazakh web site with the .kz suffix to maintain at least two domain name servers - computers that link sites' names to their digital addresses - physically inside Kazakhstan. "Implementing this provision would put the allocation of domain names on the World Wide Web in Kazakhstan entirely under government control, which contradicts freedom of expression," Miklos Haraszti, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) representative on freedom of the media, said in a statement. Independent media have come under increasing pressure in Kazakhstan in the run-up to presidential polls slated for 4 December and the opposition says the same is now true for online sources of news that do not toe the government line. A leading pro-opposition news website was recently closed by a court order and others have experienced technical problems. The OSCE urged the Kazakh government to remove the regulations on domain names and comply with media freedom commitments. "Kazakhstan's web space should be administered by a body independent of the government," the Vienna-based body added. On Tuesday, the Kazakh Central Electoral Commission (CEC) said it had registered over 180 foreign observers to monitor the election process in the country, the Kazakh Interfax-Kazakhstan news agency reported. President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who has ruled the country since 1989 and is seeking another seven-year term, has pledged a free vote in the energy-rich state, while the OSCE said that previous presidential polls did not comply with international standards. Kazakhstan's prison authorities ruled on Wednesday that a jailed opposition leader was eligible for early release on good behaviour, the AP reported, citing the justice ministry. A court must still issue a final order to allow the release of Galymzhan Zhakiyanov, who was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2002 on abuse-of-office charges. His supporters and international rights groups say the charges were politically motivated. In August 2004, in an apparent response to international pressure, authorities moved 41-year-old Zhakiyanov from a prison to a special settlement in northern Kazakhstan for the remainder of his term. Under Kazakh law, he is eligible for early release on good behaviour after serving two-thirds of his term. Unemployment and poverty in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union can be reduced only if market reforms are implemented and the investment climate improves thereby creating more jobs, according to a World Bank report released Tuesday. The report, which analyses labour markets in 27 transition countries since the fall of communism about 15 years ago, warns that despite the region's success in moving to a free market economy, job opportunities still remain scarce. "Unless the employment outlook improves, the substantial poverty reduction in the region since 1998 could come to a halt, which would undermine political support for reform," Arup Banerji, who supervised the report, said. In Kazakhstan, deregulating labour laws and enforcing basic labour standards is required, the report said, urging the other four Central Asian republics to pursue their march toward market economies and to reduce risks associated with opening a new business. "Since it's the young, small, private firms creating the jobs, governments need to push for business-friendly reforms," Stefano Scarpetta, who co-authored the report, said. The new head of Asia's largest development body is set to tour Central Asia in his first mission to the region since taking office in February 2005. President of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Haruhiko Kuroda will begin an eight-day official mission to the region on 5 November that will include visits to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, the Manila-based organisation said on Wednesday. Kuroda is also expected to take part in the Fourth Ministerial Conference on Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) in the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, on 6 November. The conference will bring together ministers and senior officials of the countries participating in ADB's CAREC programme to discuss ways to expand cooperation and deepen economic ties. In Tajikistan, an Islamic party on Monday criticised a new ban on wearing Islamic head scarves in secular schools in the country as an "inadmissible" violation of civil rights. The Islamic Renaissance Party (IRP) said that the ban, announced on 19 October, was against the interests of the majority of Tajiks and contradicted the constitution and international laws. It added that the ban "could provoke a negative public reaction". In announcing the ban, education minister Abdudjabor Rakhmonov said that wearing the hijab, or head scarf traditionally worn by Muslim women, and other religious symbols was unacceptable in secular schools and was in violation of the constitution and education laws. Tajikistan is constitutionally a secular country, but more than 90 percent of its population are Muslims. The IRP is the only official Islamic party in Central Asia. In Kyrgyzstan, visiting head of the US military's Central Command, Gen. John Abizaid, met Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiev on Tuesday amid efforts by the new Kyrgyz government to increase revenues from the US air base near Bishkek, AP reported. Kyrgyzstan has hosted the US-run air base since December 2001 to support combat operations in nearby Afghanistan. Bakiyev's government, which came to power following a March uprising that ousted the previous government, has sought to increase revenues from the base, which contributes substantially to the Central Asian nation's economy. Some officials say its fuel purchases, landing fees and other expenditures account for up to 7 percent of Kyrgyzstan's annual revenue. In Uzbekistan, the US issued a sharp rebuke to Tashkent on Wednesday over the arrest of opposition leader Sanjar Umarov and demanded to know more about the dissident's case and his medical condition, Reuters reported. US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said he had seen reports about the arrest of Umarov and his alleged mistreatment by the Uzbek authorities. "The very fact of these reports is deeply troubling," said McCormack. Uzbek prosecutors arrested Umarov, an oil and cotton businessman who chairs the opposition Sunshine Coalition, on 22 October on charges of embezzlement. Umarov and his coalition were very critical of a violent government crackdown on public protests in the eastern city of Andijan in May.