Central Asia

No Privatisation for Strategic Energy, Metals Plants

The Tajik government has decided that the giant TADAZ aluminium plant and two major hydroelectric power stations will be excluded from future privatisation programmes.

New Law Encourages Blood Donation

Tajikistan has introduced legislation banning the export of blood and offering incentives to donors.

Kazakstan's Disunited Journalists

No space for trade unions in a profession where staff are deterred from any kind of collective action.

Bride Theft Custom Fuels Divorce Rate

Eight out of ten divorces in Kyrgyzstan involve brides who were “stolen” by their husbands, women’s rights groups say.

Common Energy Plan for Central Asia Still Far Off

Uzbek Government Acts to Avert Unrest

Tribe Seeks Recognition in Census

As a nationwide census gets under way in Kyrgyzstan, one group in the south of the country is seeking to register as a hitherto unrecognised nation.

Uzbek Media More Open, But Limits Remain

Health Services Inadequate in Tajik South

Residents of Qurghonteppa in southern Tajikistan say they get poor service from doctors in the state healthcare system, who will not see them unless they pay for treatment that is supposed to be free.

Farmers Reluctant to Grow Cotton

As farmers in the northern region of Soghd get ready for the planting season, many are unhappy at the prospect of growing cotton when they do not earn enough from it to repay their debts.