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This week in Central Asia, US Vice President Dick Cheney talked about democratic reforms when visiting the region, but when he briefly visited Kazakhstan, an oil-rich country with a poor human rights record, his focus was clearly on energy issues. Cheney said during a joint press conference in the Kazakh capital Astana, that the former Soviet republic was an important strategic partner for the US. Wahington has also expressed interest in expanding its security and economic cooperation with Tajikistan, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) reported. US assistant secretary of state, Richard Boucher, said on Monday during a visit to the mountainous country, that the US wanted to help stem the flow of narcotics being smuggled to the region from neighbouring Afghanistan. In Kyrgyzstan, controversial businessman Ryspek Akmatbayev was shot dead on Wednesday night while leaving a mosque outside the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, AP reported. He was elected to the country’s parliament in April, but the national electoral body refused to register him due to his investigation on murder charges. His brother, Tynychbek Akmatbeyev, held the parliamentary seat before him, but was killed by a mob of inmates while visiting a Bishkek prison in 2005. A Kazakh journalists’ union led by President’s Nursultan Nazarbayev’s daughter, Dariga Nazarbayeva, demanded on Thursday the resignation of the country’s information minister, AP reported. The information minister, Ermukhamet Ertysbayev, had last week announced that the government intended to take over a television channel that was controlled by Dariga Nazarbayeva, to help improve the vast nation’s “information security”. Two Tajik police officers have been taken into custody accused of being connected with the death of opposition party activist, Sadullo Marupov, AFP reported on Thursday. The detained police officers were charged with abuse of power while interrogating the Islamic Renaissance Party (IRP) member, but claimed that Marupov killed himself by jumping from the third floor of the police station. Meanwhile, Uzbek authorities have begun investigating a US-based NGO’s activities in the country for alleged missionary work, the Russian ITAR-TASS news agency reported on Wednesday. The Global Investment Through Education NGO is just one of many Western organisations the government has investigated or ejected from the country over the past six months. Earlier in the week, authorities in the former Soviet republic began efforts to close down the US-funded NGO, International Counterpart, citing its systematic violation of Uzbek law, as well as its own charter. Over the past six months, Tashkent has expelled the missions of the Eurasia Foundation, Freedom House, the International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX), the American Bar Association, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), along with the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

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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