Page 549 – The Times Of Central Asia

01 Oct 2024

Home, International Affairs, Kazakhstan International Affairs, Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan: Investigate Airstrike on UAE Residence in Sudan

October 1, 2024
By Times of Central Asia

Kazakhstan condemns a Sept. 29 airstrike on the Khartoum residence of the top diplomat of the United Arab Emirates in Sudan, the Kazakh Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Tuesday.

“We firmly believe that any kind of violence against diplomatic missions and their staff is absolutely unacceptable,” the ministry said in a statement. It said the airstrike violated the security of diplomatic missions as guaranteed under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and appealed for an investigation to bring “all those involved to justice.”

The United Arab Emirates said the airstrike was carried out by a Sudanese army aircraft and that it caused extensive damage to the building. The Sudanese Armed Forces, or SAF, denied responsibility.

The SAF has previously accused the United Arab Emirates of supporting its enemy in Sudan’s civil war, a paramilitary group called the Rapid Support Forces.

01 Oct 2024

Home, International Affairs, Kazakhstan, Kazakhstan International Affairs, Features, Kazakhstan Featurees

Lukashenko Turns Up Charm After Kazakhstan Kerfuffle

October 1, 2024
By Times of Central Asia

In August, Belarusian leader Aleksandr Lukashenko drew a Kazakh rebuke after he criticized Kazakhstan for what he described as its tepid support for Russia. Lukashenko was a model of diplomatic etiquette on Tuesday, effusively praising Kazakhstan as a close ally during a ceremony at which he received credentials of foreign ambassadors.

“Today there are practically no areas where we do not have common interests. Annual $1 billion trade turnover and successful projects in industrial interaction testify to the high dynamics of bilateral cooperation,” the longtime Belarusian ruler said of Kazakhstan. Lukashenko´s comments were reported by Belarus Today, a state-run media group.

The Belarusian president also thanked Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev for supporting Belarus when it became a member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a regional security group, earlier this year, according to Belarus Today. Kazakhstan was chair of the organization at the time.

Things weren’t as convivial in August when Lukashenko, a backer of Russian President Vladimir Putin, suggested in an interview with Russian state television that Kazakhstan was exploiting Russia, now in a third year of war since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

“We are not starting to cheat like some post-Soviet states. They want to take something from Russia, but give nothing in return,” Lukashenko said at the time. The longtime leader of Belarus, who has crushed opposition over 30 years in power, referred to the dispatch of troops from regional countries to Kazakhstan in a show of support after protests and riots erupted there in January 2022, killing more than 200 people. Most of the troops were Russian; a small contingent came from Belarus.

Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the Belarusian ambassador after Lukashenko’s remarks and said, in an apparently oblique reference to the Ukraine war, that “all disagreements between states should be resolved by political and diplomatic means.”

Kazakhstan’s new ambassador in Belarus is Yerlan Baizhanov, formerly the country’s top diplomat in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.

01 Oct 2024

Central Asia, Home, Uzbekistan, Uzbekistan Features, International Affairs, Uzbekistan Home, Local Politics, Uzbekistan Justice, Uzbekistan Life & Culture, Features, Uzbekistan International Affairs, Uzbekistan Local Politics

Tashkent Teacher at Center of Political Debate Arrested for Second Violent Outburst

October 4, 2024
By Sadokat Jalolova

The Times of Central Asia previously reported that оn September 23, a teacher at a school in Tashkent’s Chilonzor district was filmed slapping a student when the child asked for the Russian language class to be taught in Russian. The Children’s Ombudsman of Uzbekistan, Surayyo Rahmonova, has begun an investigation into the incident.

The spokesperson for Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zakharova, said that she was worried about the content of the video published online, and asked Uzbekistan to make a legal assessment of this incident. In response, Alisher Qodirov, the leader of Uzbekistan’s Milli Tiklanish (National Revival) party and deputy speaker of the lower house of parliament, urged Russia not to interfere in Uzbekistan’s domestic affairs, commenting that “it would be better for [Russia] to deal with their own affairs [which are] full of problems than to deal with our internal issues.”

Russian Senator Andrei Klimov reponded to Qodirov’s statement, saying that “inter-ethnic relations are very delicate” between Uzbeks and Russians. He called the teacher’s actions “an offense, maybe more” and expressed bewilderment at Qodirov’s remarks.

The teacher has since committed other offenses. On September 24, she went to her daughter’s school in another district of Tashkent, where she argued with the school administration and used physical force against the deputy director. When officers from the National Guard and the Interior Administration intervened to restore order, the teacher resisted their demands. She was later sentenced to seven days of administrative detention and fined.

01 Oct 2024

Central Asia, Uzbekistan, Life & Culture, International Affairs, Uzbekistan Life & Culture, Uzbekistan International Affairs

Uzbekkosmos and NASA Unite for World Space Week Celebrations in Uzbekistan

October 8, 2024
By Sadokat Jalolova

The Uzbekkosmos agency has announced a series of events in celebration of World Space Week, which will take place in Uzbekistan from October 4 to 10. This global event, commemorated in nearly 100 countries, was established by a UN General Assembly resolution in 1999, recognizing the importance of space exploration.

As part of the World Space Week festivities, Uzbekkosmos is launching several major initiatives. A key highlight is a special exhibition on space history at the Tashkent City Mall Trade and Entertainment Center, which will open its doors on October 4.

In addition, on October 5 and 6, Uzbekkosmos, in collaboration with NASA, will host the NASA Space Apps Challenge 2024 hackathon. This event will take place at the Turin Polytechnic University in Tashkent, where over 200 young innovators, organized into approximately 40 teams, will showcase their creative projects.

01 Oct 2024

Central Asia, Turkmenistan Home, Environment, Home, Turkmenistan Life & Culture, Turkmenistan, Turkmenistan Business & Economy, Turkmenistan Features, Features

Did DIY Butchers Cause Twenty-One Meat Poisonings in Turkmenistan?

October 1, 2024
By Vagit Ismailov

A hospital in the eastern Turkmen town of Sayat has admitted 21 people with symptoms of food poisoning, after eating at a restaurant where they were given infected meat. All the patients were kept in hospital for several days, Chronicles of Turkmenistan reports.

An outbreak of a disease among camels and cattle, presumably animal pox, was recently recorded in Sayat. The virus began to spread rapidly but has since been halted by epidemiological and veterinary services.

The way that dead animals are disposed of in Turkmenistan poses an additional threat. The authorities do not control this process, and many people bury cattle corpses on their own in wastelands or throw them into bushes. Due to this, a new problem has emerged: people, dubbed giçki maslykçylar (“night scavengers”) find recently dead animals, skin them, and cut out the parts of the carcass that have not rotted away. This meat is then sold to cafes and restaurants for 50 manats per kilogram, slightly cheaper than the market price of 60-65 manats for fresh meat.

Viral animal pox is spreading among camels and cattle in some countries of Central Asia, including Turkmenistan. The virus causes skin lesions, including papules and pustules, which can lead to mass infections in livestock. If not treated promptly, the disease can spread among farm animals, which can cause mass mortality. In most cases, animal pox does not pose a serious threat to humans, but some strains can be transmitted to people.

Diseases such as cowpox and sheeppox can be transmitted to humans through contact with infected animals. These viruses cause skin rashes and can affect mucous membranes, making them potentially dangerous to humans, especially if precautions are not taken when in contact with them.

Local authorities have started inspecting stores and markets selling meat and fish. Sellers who sell products without appropriate certificates from sanitary-epidemiological services are being fined 3,000 to 5,000 manats ($850 to $1400).

01 Oct 2024

Home, Uzbekistan, Uzbekistan Life & Culture

Big Fire at Top University in Uzbekistan; No Casualties Reported

October 2, 2024
By Times of Central Asia

Firefighters in Uzbekistan have extinguished a large blaze that broke out at the Tashkent State Agrarian University, a leading institution in Central Asia that has extensive international links and whose sprawling grounds include offices of some Uzbek government agencies.

Videos of the fire on Monday evening showed flames almost completely engulfing a building and burning on other structures as well. Smoke billowed into the night sky. Sirens were heard as emergency responders converged on the area.

“No information has been received about any injuries or fatalities as a result of the incident,” Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Emergency Situations said in a statement.

Firefighting crews received a report of a fire at the university at 8:10 p.m. and were on the scene at 8:17 p.m., according to the ministry. It said the fire was completely extinguished by 10:10 p.m. and that its minister, Maj. Gen. Abdulla Kuldashev, personally oversaw efforts to put out the fire.

There were no immediate reports on the cause of the blaze.

The fire started on the roof of the Forestry Agency building and affected three buildings in total, according to Gazeta.uz reporters who were on the scene. The Uzbek media outlet said the 28-hectare campus is also home to Agriculture Ministry offices and facilities of some international organizations.

Forbes Ag, a North Carolina-based agricultural consulting firm, said last week that it was assisting the “bright young minds” at the Tashkent State Agrarian University on issues of sustainable farming. USAID said in August that seven students from the Tashkent university were in a two-month research program at the University of Missouri.

Last week, a member of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization visited the campus to discuss dangerous chemicals and pesticides, and a university delegation was traveling in China. The university has had contacts with numerous other countries.

In a statement, Bobur Tolaganov, spokesperson for the Tashkent Regional Department of Internal Affairs, said that a criminal investigation has been launched into the cause of the fire.