Weekly news wrap

This week in Central Asia, countries in the region boosted up their defences against bird flu, following recent outbreaks of the disease in Turkey. Kyrgyzstan's veterinary service imposed a ban on the import of animal products, including all types of poultry products from countries where the virus had been detected, the Kyrgyz AKIpress news agency reported on Sunday. In Kazakhstan, the country's health bodies had equipped labs and trained experts in all regions to conduct preliminary tests of any reported poultry illnesses within hours, AP reported on Tuesday. Kenes Ospanov from the Kazakh health ministry said that the government had allocated some US $450,000 to purchase bird flu treatment drugs. "We might see new bird flu outbreaks in April-May," Ospanov warned, while the government banned poultry imports from Russia and China, where outbreaks of bird flu were detected last year. Kazakhstan had its only previous outbreak of bird flu in July. It wasn't the deadly H5N1 strain that is dangerous to humans, but the virus killed hundreds of geese in the north of the former Soviet republic after hitting several nearby Russian regions. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), avian influenza, or 'bird flu', is a contagious disease of animals caused by viruses that normally infect only birds and less commonly, pigs. Avian influenza viruses are highly species specific, but in some cases infect humans. At least 80 people have died in Asia since the virus surfaced in 2003. Staying in Kazakhstan, an opposition leader jailed for more than three years returned home on Sunday, AP reported. Galymzhan Zhakiyanov, 41, leader of the now-disbanded Democratic Choice party, was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2002 on abuse-of-office charges. His jailing was seen by supporters and rights groups as politically motivated. A panel of judges granted him early release on Saturday. Under Kazakh law, Zhakiyanov was eligible for early release on good behaviour after serving half his term. On Tuesday, Zhakiyanov said he hoped President Nazarbayev would uphold promises of democratic reform, AFP reported. "I hope that the elected president sticks by the promises he made earlier," the news agency quoted Zhakiyanov as saying. On Thursday, an international media freedom watchdog said that opposition newspapers in Kazakhstan had been blocked from printing. The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) was alarmed that Kazakhstan's biggest printing company, run by Svetlana Nazarbayeva, a relative of President Nazarbayev, has refused to print seven Almaty-based opposition newspapers. Local press freedom groups said that the company, Dauir, told the editors of the opposition weeklies Svoboda Slova, Epokha, Apta.kz, Soz, Pravda Kazakhstana, Pravo.Ekonomika.Politika.Kultura and Azat that it would not renew their contracts, which expired on 1 January because it was changing equipment. However, local media watchdogs Adil Soz and Kazakhstan's International Bureau for Human Rights and the Rule of Law (IBHRRL) quoted the editors as saying they were being harassed because of their critical coverage of the president. In Tajikistan, officials said that a banned Uzbek Islamic group was involved in an explosion in the Tajik capital, Dushanbe, in June 2005, the Russian ITAR-TASS news agency reported on Monday. Tajik Prosecutor-General Bobojon Bobokhonov said that the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan [IMU], classified by some countries as a terrorist organisation, was involved in setting off an explosion near the building of the Tajik emergencies ministry on 13 June 2005. "Several people linked to the IMU have been detained and some others have been put on the international wanted list as a result of the investigation launched into this terrorist act," he said. The amount of heroin seized in Tajikistan, a key trafficking point between Afghanistan and Europe, fell by a fifth last year, Reuters reported on Tuesday, citing Faizullo Abdulloyev, a senior Tajik anti-drug agency official. Abdulloyev reportedly said that the total amount of drugs - mostly heroin - intercepted in Tajikistan in 2005 was 4.6 mt, or 18 percent lower than in 2004. However, a UN report in November said while poppy cultivation decreased dramatically in eastern Afghanistan, it had increased in the west and the north of the country, which borders Tajikistan. The impoverished ex-Soviet Central Asian state said last year it wanted full control over its frontiers and Russia withdrew its border guards but expressed doubts that Tajikistan could protect its rugged border with Afghanistan from a flood of drugs. Also in Tajikistan, the BBC made a formal complaint to the Tajik government on Wednesday following a suspension of the BBC's services to the country on FM frequencies by the Tajik authorities since 10 January 2006. BBC services on medium wave and short-wave to listeners in the country remain unaffected. The suspension followed a recently ratified Tajik Media Law requiring international broadcasters on FM to register with the Tajik Ministry of Justice and acquire a media licence. "The BBC has a legal contract and a licence to broadcast on FM and we would like that to be honoured. The BBC is happy to comply with the new law but the process takes considerably more time than has been allowed by the Tajik authorities," BBC World Service Director Nigel Chapman said in a statement. The BBC is currently the only international broadcaster available on FM in Tajikistan and has a legal contract and licence to broadcast. However, although the BBC has started the new process for registration, the 20-day deadline was unrealistic for a process that would normally take up to six months to complete. The BBC has been broadcasting in Tajikistan since 1996 on medium wave. In 2004, the radioo launched two 24-hour FM relays, in Dushanbe and Khujand, with programmes in Tajik, as well as broadcasts in Russian and English. A new report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) released on Wednesday said many countries, including Uzbekistan in Central Asia, used the “war on terrorism” to attack their political opponents, branding them as “Islamic terrorists”. HRW said in its World Report 2006 that it documented many serious abuses outside the fight against terrorism. In May, the Uzbek government massacred hundreds of demonstrators in the eastern city of Andijan, HRW said, adding that severe repression continued in neighbouring Turkmenistan. HRW's World Report 2006 contains survey information on human rights developments in more than 70 countries in 2005.