WELCOME TO IWPR'S REPORTING CENTRAL ASIA, No. 566, 13 February, 2009 TAJIKISTAN NEEDS SUREFOOTED ACTION ON ECONOMY Troubled currency just one aspect of countrys massive vulnerability to external economic shocks. By Elena Miller and Lola Olimova in Dushanbe (RCA No. 566, 13-Feb-09)
KAZAKSTAN STRUGGLES WITH DEVALUATION IMPACT Emergency measure designed to correct trade and monetary imbalance, but may spark inflation. By Marik Koshabaev and Daulet Kanagatuly in Almaty (RCA No. 566, 13-Feb-09) KAZAK GOVERNMENT HALTS CONTROVERSIAL TEACHER TESTS Authorities cave in to demands from teachers and politicians to put new examination system on hold. By Olga Shevchenko in Almaty (RCA No. 566, 12-Feb-09) FEARS OF POLICE STATE IN KAZAKSTAN Rights groups fear wider use of intercepts could erode civil liberties. By Daulet Kanagatuly in Almaty (RCA No. 566, 12-Feb-09) DISMAY AT KYRGYZ ENVOYS NEO-NAZI TALKS Rights groups say negotiating with Russian far right will do nothing to stop racist attacks. By Mirgul Akimova in Bishkek (RCA No. 566, 13-Feb-09) SPECIAL REPORT KYRGYZ REGIONS SOLDIER ON WITHOUT POWER People in outlying areas come up with ingenious if dangerous solutions to energy shortages. By Janar Akayev, Jannat Toktosunova, Jenish Aydarov, Kumondor Usupov, Zumrad Narzullaeva and Sanjar Eraliyev in Kyrgyzstan (RCA No. 566, 12-Feb-09) **** IWPR RESOURCES ****************************************************************** NEW PROJECT: CENTRAL ASIA RADIO: http://iwpr.net/centralasiaradio IWPRs weekly radio programmes for Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan provide analysis and comment on current political and social themes in each country. 2008 WINNERS OF THE KURT SCHORK AWARDS: http://iwpr.net/kurtschork CENTRAL ASIA PROGRAMME HOME: http://iwpr.net/centralasia IWPR COMMENT: http://iwpr.net/comment SAHAR JOURNALISTS ASSISTANCE FUND: http://iwpr.net/sahar **** www.iwpr.net ******************************************************************** REPORTING CENTRAL ASIA RSS: http://www.iwpr.net/en/rca/rss.xml RECEIVE FROM IWPR: Readers are urged to subscribe to IWPR's full range of free electronic publications at: http://iwpr.net/subscribe GIVE TO IWPR: IWPR is wholly dependent upon grants and donations. For more information about how you can support IWPR go to: http://iwpr.net/donate **** www.iwpr.net ******************************************************************** TAJIKISTAN NEEDS SUREFOOTED ACTION ON ECONOMY Troubled currency just one aspect of countrys massive vulnerability to external economic shocks. By Elena Miller and Lola Olimova in Dushanbe Although Tajikistans currency appears to have stabilised after last weeks wobble, economists say the government is going to have to keep a firmer hand on monetary and economic policy, as the country remains highly vulnerable to external factors that it can do little about. The Tajik somoni underwent a sudden deprecation on February 2, when its exchange rate slipped by nearly seven per cent from 3.75 to 3.90 to the US dollar. Panic-buying later in the week pushed the rate down further to four somoni to the dollar, and traders reported that dollars were in short supply. This spike is a result of panic-buying of foreign currency fuelled by news of the [relative] rise in the dollars value, said a central bank statement dated February 4. The National Bank of Tajikistan tried to calm nerves by assuring people they were taking unnecessary risks by buying dollars at unreasonably high rates. The current situation will be short-lived and people will end up incurring big losses when the somoni recovers its real rate, it said. A week later, on February 11, the bank was able to offer some reassurance, with an official telling the Asia Plus news agency that the somoni was gradually strengthening. Despite that, the US dollar the premium foreign currency throughout the former Soviet Union remained in short supply at exchange offices, which were clearly trying to stock up rather than sell what they had. Tajikistan has been hit hard by the international financial crisis, with its main exports aluminium and cotton fetching less on world markets, and a sharp fall in the amount of money that migrant workers are sending home from Russia and Kazakstan. The government is currently negotiating with the International Monetary Fund, IMF, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development to secure loans worth over 200 million US dollars. The somonis exchange rate has been unstable for some time. At the beginning of this year the rate fell from 3.43 to 3.70 to the dollar, resulting in long queues at exchange offices. Towards the end of January, the central bank said it had been intervening to maintain the currencys value. With dwindling foreign currency and gold reserves, though, there is a limit to how long that could go on. Speaking earlier last month, central bank chief Sharif Rahimzoda said currency reserves had been depleted from 350 to 198 million dollars because of monetary interventions over the course of 2008. A taxation service official who asked to remain anonymous was critical of what he said was the governments dilatory response to obvious trends. He noted that an anti-crisis plan approved late last year were currently being revised following official talks World Bank and IMF, and the final version would not be ready until February 15. The tax official said Tajik financial institutions had failed to grasp the implications which the global financial crisis would have for the countrys economy. For too long, he said, they insisted that Tajikistan would be safe because its financial system was relatively isolated from world markets ignoring changes in commodity prices. December exports were 44 per cent down on the previous month, and some analysts believe the aluminium industry has lost 100 million dollars in revenues in the last few months. It was these price falls on world markets in recent months that resulted in Tajikistan receiving less foreign currency, said Zarif Razikov of Bank Eskhata. Since workers remittances are believed to contribute to creating at least 40 per cent of Tajikistans gross national product, job losses and pay cuts as the construction and other sectors contract in Russia and Kazakstan have had a major impact on Tajikistan. As well as providing sustenance for Tajik households and the businesses they buy from, the influx of money has enabled the central bank to build up its reserves in recent years. Central bank figures show that migrant workers sent home money transfers of more than two billion dollars in the period from January to September last year. But after that, the transfers started falling away. The savings bank Amonatbank, for example, notes that remittances it handled in November were 25 per cent down on the previous year. We can explain this by noting that many of the labour migrants working in Russia have lost their jobs, said Abunasir Sharipov, head of external relations at the bank. Experts say that with traditional revenue sources drying up, the government needs to act resolutely. With falling aluminium and cotton prices, the government cannot expect to get the revenues that were projected earlier, and there is every reason to revise the budget and cut it down, said the tax official. Others argue the case for urgent action to promote domestic production. One obvious area for reform would be tax; a perennial complaint in the Tajik business community is that taxes are too numerous and too high. In my view, the president who decides everything should act quickly and lower the tax burden with immediate effect, said one businesswoman based in the capital Dushanbe. Another useful measure, she said would be to abolish import duty on equipment, machine-tools and spare parts so as to stimulate local manufacturing, while simultaneously raising the duties applicable to Chinese-made finished goods. This will benefit our economy and domestic manufacturers, she said. Elena Miller is the pseudonym of a journalist in Bishkek. Lola Olimova is IWPRs editor for Tajikistan. KAZAKSTAN STRUGGLES WITH DEVALUATION IMPACT Emergency measure designed to correct trade and monetary imbalance, but may spark inflation. By Marik Koshabaev and Daulet Kanagatuly in Almaty Last weeks devaluation of the Kazakstan currency was too sudden and too late, and is fuelling inflation as a result, according to critics of the way the measure was introduced. The devaluation was announced on February 4 by Grigory Marchenko, who had been appointed as chairman of the National Bank of Kazakstan, NBK, only the week before. The tenge immediately tumbled from an exchange rate of about 120 to the dollar to around 150, the NBKs new target rate. For the last year, the NBK had been supporting the tenge at an exchange rate of around 120 to the US dollar. But as NBK officials acknowledged, that was becoming less and less tenable since the bank had been forced to sell foreign currency and gold reserves worth six billion dollars to maintain the tenges value. It could not afford to go on, especially as government revenues had been slashed by falling world oil prices. Secondly, Kazak exports priced in tenge had been growing increasingly expensive in countries like Russia, which had pursued a policy of gradual devaluation in the face of the global financial turbulence of recent months. Realigning the tenge to fit the new trading conditions could give a boost to Kazak producers who make items for export. However, another effect of devaluation is to make imports more expensive. The minister for industry and trade, Vladimir Shkolnik, told a cabinet meeting on February 9 that the prices of basic foodstuffs had rocketed in the first week following devaluation. He attributed this sudden inflation to imported items, products made locally out of raw materials from abroad, and those whose production was funded by loans denominated in dollars. At the same meeting, the chairman of Kazakstans anti-competition agency, Majit Esenbaev, predicted further price rises for wheat products, sugar, cooking oil, fuit and vegetables, and for fuel. Esenbaev warned that some businesses might engage in profiteering and thereby create an artificial shortage on the food market. Few commentators have taken issue with the decision to devalue; their complaints relate to the way it was done. In our view, devaluation should have been introduced gradually as it was in Russia, Gulnara Rahmatullina, head of economic research at the Kazakstan Institute for Strategic Research, told IWPR. Rahmatullina said the tenges loss in value had had a major psychological impact, as people felt the tenge in their pay packets were worth less than before. Meruert Mahmudova from the Centre for Analysis of Public Policy Issues said the decision had been expected. It was obvious that at a time when the Russian currency was falling, it was neither realistic nor beneficial to keep the dollar-tenge rate stable, as was done last year, since Russia is Kazakstans biggest trading partner. The fall in oil prices from 150 dollars to 35 dollars a barrel exhausted the possibilities for [creating currency reserves and] stabilising the tenge, she said in an interview to the Kazakstan Today news agency on February 4. At the same time, she said, Gradual devaluation would have been a more prudent decision in economic terms. Oraz Jandosov, a former NBK chairman turned opposition politician who heads the Centre for Economic Analysis, expressed a similar view. The government did everything right, but too late; it should have started letting the tenge go three or four months ago when the [Russian] rouble was losing its value, he told Russian Newsweek on February 10. That would have saved us a quarter of our gold reserves. Even the governing Nur Otan party has voiced concern. Addressing a party meeting on February 6, deputy chairman Rauan Shaekin said devaluation should have taken place in December, and not in one fell swoop. He said its implementation and timing were politically unwise since it had effectively cancelled out increases in pay for public sector workers and in benefits for the less well-off. Another area hit by devaluation is the value of loans, as political analyst Oleg Sidorov explained. People who took out a mortgage five years ago were using 150 tenge to the dollar as their baseline, he said. Experts are divided on whether the move will, as it is supposed to, protect and encourage domestic producers both by making their exports cheaper and by curbing the flow of rival imported products. Rahmatullina is among the optimists on this front, saying, Exporters sell their products for dollars and convert them into tenge inside the country. They earn large profits and pay [taxes] to the budget, creating greater opportunities to implement social programmes. Other analysts are less certain, arguing that the Kazak economy does not necessarily fit within this standard textbook model. As Viktor Yambaev, head of the Association of Entrepreneurs in Almaty, told Kazakstan Today on February 4, 85 per cent of our economy depends on import, so theres a simple chain reaction given that the dollars value has risen 30 per cent, everything is going to be 30 per cent more expensive. Kazakstan does not have a strong manufacturing base, and a wide range of items, both foodstuffs and manufactured goods, have to be imported. As Mahmudova put it, Devaluation serves only the interests of exporters who can recover earnings hit by falling prices on world markets. Other sectors of the economy depend on imports, and can only lose out. Analysts were also sceptical about the governments pledge to curb rising prices. Holding prices down is possible only in a command economy. In a market economy, its an impossible task, said political analyst Asylbek Kojahmetov. In a statement on February 9, three opposition parties said, Hopes have not materialised that government agencies can prevent increases in price for consumer goods, above all foodstuffs, and also provide social assistance to those who need it. Raisa, 42, works as a market trader in Almaty, and told IWPR that devaluation has forced her and her colleagues to raise prices, as they buy their goods wholesale from China and Turkey. Municipal officials have already visited our market and sought to persuade traders not to increase prices, she said, warning that anyone who followed that advice was likely to be ruined. Andrei, who owns a small food store in Almaty, said he had not put up his prices yet, but that was only because he was still selling stock purchased at the old prices. My suppliers have already warned me that the next consignment is going to be priced in line with the devaluation, he said. Pensioner Amanjol Karibaev was struggling to get by even before the devaluation, and fears that even if the government takes action, all its measures will be designed to help big business, not ordinary people. Marik Koshabaev and Daulet Kanagatuly are IWPR-trained journalists in Almaty. KAZAK GOVERNMENT HALTS CONTROVERSIAL TEACHER TESTS Authorities cave in to demands from teachers and politicians to put new examination system on hold. By Olga Shevchenko in Almaty The Kazak government has postponed a new test which teachers were due to sit this year. The decision follows pressure from teachers and government ministers. At a meeting with representatives of the Ministry of Education and Science on January 22, Prime Minister Karim Masimov instructed minister Janseit Tyimebaev to halt the computer-based testing process, which was already being rolled out. A trial of the test was held on January 8 and 9, with an official exam to follow later in the year. But the plans have now been shelved following a campaign by a group of teachers in southern Kazakstan, who sent a series of letters to the ministry asking it to delay the process. The teachers complained that the new system had been introduced in haste, and demanded more time to prepare. After sitting the trial exam, they asked for improvements, complaining that some questions were unclear as a result of a poor translation from the original Russian into Kazak. They also reported technical difficulties, such as having to wait in long queues to get into the test rooms, computers freezing during the test, and delays in the release of results. Following the teachers letters, a group of members of parliament backed their demands and requested the prime minister to look into the complaints. Since the early Nineties, Kazak teachers have been required to sit an exam every five years after attending special courses on their specialist subjects. If they do badly, this is reflected in their salary scale. A different testing system was to be introduced this year after the education ministry introduced a new set of rules in April 2008. Under the new scheme, the authorities were going to continue to peg salary rises to test results. However, the new test was to be computer- rather than paper-based, and include a broader range of questions. In addition, tougher penalties were to be imposed on those who performed badly. According to the new procedures, the new test was designed to last 150 minutes and contain 100 questions, relating to the individual teachers specialist subject as well as Kazakstan law, psychology and teaching methods. Those teachers who passed the test would then be given a performance appraisal. However, those who failed would have to wait six months to re-sit the test and would not be allowed to return to teaching until they passed. At a parliamentary session on January 17, when the tests were debated for the second time, member of parliament Raisa Politschuk cited this controversial aspect of the new regulation. While the authorities have acceded to the demand to delay the new testing procedure, it is not clear whether they plan to revive the plan. Teachers are concerned that if the education authorities decide to impose the system of harsh penalties at a later date, this could lead to an greater shortage of teachers. Kazakstans state schools are short of staff, and many attribute the declining numbers to the low salaries paid to teachers. The Kazak Federation for Education and Science Trade Unions says the average teacher's salary is 27,000 tenge (223 US dollars) a month. Russian language teacher Elena Morozova from Shymkent said that if the penalty system were to be imposed, she would not be able to afford to stay in the profession. If you answer [too many] questions wrong, youll be deprived of your teachers status and your salary will be cut, she noted. Since a teachers salary is very low, I think it would be better to find another job, even one that doesnt match my qualifications. Yet education ministry officials and others maintain that tests are an effective mechanism for evaluating teachers competence. Amirjan Kosanov, a political scientist and deputy chairman of the National Social Democratic Party of Kazakstan, said the tests would help weed out incompetent teachers. However, he also acknowledged that imposing strict penalties on those who fail could drive teachers out the profession. To prevent this happening, he said, it was important to make teaching more attractive as a provision by improving working conditions. Olga Shevchenko is an IWPR correspondent in Almaty. FEARS OF POLICE STATE IN KAZAKSTAN Rights groups fear wider use of intercepts could erode civil liberties. By Daulet Kanagatuly in Almaty Rights activists have expressed concern that legal amendments relaxing rules on the use of phone tapping and monitoring of private correspondence could be used to infringe peoples rights. During a hearing on January 30, the lower house of the Kazak parliament approved changes to the law governing investigative operations, the criminal code and the criminal procedural code. The changes were proposed by law enforcement ministries, who say they will improve the efficiency of criminal investigations and will lead to more prosecutions. But human rights defenders are worried that the new legislation could be used to restrict civil liberties, and argue that the police are trying to compensate for their own inefficiency. The amendments must now progress through the upper house or Senate before being submitted for President Nursultan Nazarbaevs signature. If passed, the changes would allow criminal investigators to use techniques such as phone tapping and monitoring of private correspondence to look into a wider range of crimes. This kind of surveillance is already legal for investigations into serious crimes including murder, terrorism, and certain kinds of corruption. But under the new legislation, they could also be invoked during investigations of a lesser crimes including inciting or funding terrorism, kidnapping, and human trafficking. Other proposed changes relate to how evidence is held and how investigations are documented. According to Kazakstans deputy prosecutor general Johann Merkel, who presented the bill to the parliament, the criminal legislation is currently too liberal. After the end of the Soviet Union, he said, many serious crimes were reclassified into lesser categories. This left law enforcement bodies including the security service, the conventional police and the financial police unable to use intercepts when investigating such crimes. Merkel said the restrictions placed on investigators powers had led to crimes going unsolved. Only 60 per cent of all criminal cases go to court, he added. An analysis [of investigations] shows that one of the reasons for inefficient crime-solving is the legal prohibition on using special operations techniques related to phone tapping, said Merkel. The draft amendments would allow intercepts to be used in cases involving an additional 34 types of crime. The deputy prosecutor said that every year, 90,000 crimes falling into these categories are committed. Human rights groups and other experts are against the amendments, arguing that society as a whole is being asked to pay for the polices inefficiency by losing important civil rights. [Police want] to compensate for their lack of professionalism and make their work easier at our cost, at the cost of our rights, said Ninel Fokina, director of the Almaty Helsinki Committee. Theyve stated officially and openly that they find it difficult to solve crimes, so they want an opportunity [to use techniques] reserved for serious crimes in application to lesser ones. Fokina said the law enforcement agencies already had extensive powers as things stand. A former police colonel who asked to remain anonymous agreed that law enforcement agencies themselves were to blame for the low crime-solving rate. He accused them of an appalling lack of professionalism, and said they were over-reliant on intercepts. He said he thought they were pushing through the legislation so that material they were already gathering through covert surveillance could be used as evidence. I suspect that theyve been illegally tapping the phones of suspects for a long time but are unable to use the material, he said. The former officer warned that if the amendments were approved, it could increase repression. This is an ideal instrument [with which] to deal with dissent, he said. A phrase accidently dropped during a phone conversation or in a personal letter can grow into a thick crime file, from where it can be linked to [accusations of involvement] in underground organisations. Virtually anyone could become a suspect, he said, since people make throwaway comments in the heat of the moment, which could subsequently be used against them. Fokina said that because of the lack of transparency surrounding law enforcement in Kazakstan, it would be difficult to stop the new legislation being misused. Others said that information gathered from bugging could be used not only to persecute dissidents, but also to extort money from businesses. The aim will be to find some well-to-do guy or a thriving company, collect enough compromising material from tapping to build up a thick criminal file, and then demand that they pay a certain amount of money for it to be closed, said Almaty-based lawyer Sergei Utkin. Utkin echoed the retired police colonels suspicions that the initiative was a way of legalising phone tapping that went on anyway. Law enforcement officers across all ministries understand that they are breaking the law [through illegal surveillance]. Of course they want to make it legal, he said. Meanwhile, interior ministry spokesman Bagdat Kojahmetov defended the amendments, saying there were strict safeguards in place to prevent them being abused. He said that any application for the right to use surveillance had to be backed up by a proper justification, it had to relate to a criminal case, and it needed to be approved by a prosecutor. Daulet Kanagatuly is an IWPR-trained journalist in Almaty. DISMAY AT KYRGYZ ENVOYS NEO-NAZI TALKS Rights groups say negotiating with Russian far right will do nothing to stop racist attacks. By Mirgul Akimova in Bishkek A Kyrgyz diplomats attempt to persuade Russian far-right nationalists to rein in racist violence against migrant workers has caused consternation at home. Human rights activists warn that talking to neo-Nazis only lends them undeserved credibility and legitimacy. Racist violence against migrant workers from Central Asia and the Caucasus are a major problem in Russia. The Moscow Bureau for Human Rights recorded 300 xenophobic attacks in Russia last year, as result of which 122 people were killed and 380 wounded. The human rights group said there were tens of thousands of skinheads and radical nationalists who were prone to carrying out such attacks. In an effort to tackle the problem, Kyrgyzstans ambassador in Moscow, Raimkul Attokurov, took the unusual step of meeting far-right leader Dmitry Demushkin on January 19 this year. Demushkin heads the Slavic Union, one of a number of Russian nationalist groups with neo-Nazi tendencies. The groups Russian initials spell SS, its members give a Nazi-style salute and its emblem looks like a reworked swastika. Explaining why he chose to meet Demushkin, the ambassador told the Kyrgyzstan newspaper Delo ?, My mission as representative of Kyrgyzstan is to protect the interests of its people living in Russia, regardless of their social status, ethnicity or religion . And I believe I must take any step, even an extraordinary one, to achieve this. In the January 28 interview, Attokurov claimed his approach had been a success and that Demushkin had instructed Slavic Union branches all across Russia to treat people from Kyrgyzstan with greater tolerance. It was not made clear how the average member of the group was going to distinguish Kyrgyz from other Central Asian nationals not covered by the new policy. Members of the Kyrgyz diaspora in Russia were naturally sceptical about the talks. The ambassador told us about his initiative, and we had mixed feelings about it, ranging from shock to joy, said Asylbek Egemberdiev, editor-in-chief at the KG-INFO.RU news portal, which provides information for Kyrgyzstan nationals in Russia. In the end, though, Egemberdiev believes the initiative paid off. The ambassador managed to convince a man who heads a network of nationalist groups to be more tolerant towards the Kyrgyz, he said. The situation subsequently started gradually improving for the better. Juma Abdullayev, who heads the Zamandash Association which represents Kyrgyz migrants, also supported the ambassadors initiative. Many issues and problems get left to fester at an administrative level due to bureaucratic obstacles, he said. You need to meet people like Demushkin and explain things to them, and they will understand your point. Back in Kyrgyzstan, some human rights activists praised Attokurov for his courage. Yes, the ambassador took an unprecedented step, but you have to take such steps for the sake of your compatriots lives, said prominent activist Natalia Ablova, who heads the Bureau for Human Rights and Legal Compliance. The embassys purpose is to protect the rights of Kyrgyz citizens, and by doing this, the embassy is indeed performing this function. However, many others were taken aback. On January 30, the Moscow-based Memorial group urged official and non-government institutions not to enter into contact with far-right groups, as this might contribute to greater legitimacy for them. We strongly condemn such attempts to make advances to the neo-Nazis. We firmly believe that neither the authorities nor public associations even those of a nationalist bent should collaborate with those who not only propagate racism but also regard violence as a valid form of political action, said the statement. The fact that it was the Kyrgyz ambassador to Russia, not an ordinary diplomat who was involved in the meeting with Demushkin is shocking. Kyrgyzstans human rights ombudsman Tursunbek Akun agreed, saying Attokurov had taken a dangerous step. If an official holds talks with the neo-Nazis, he recognises their legitimacy, and this is fundamentally wrong, said Akun. He said Russian police had an obligation to prevent Kyrgyz nationals being subjected to attack, and it was not for the ambassador to try to arrange a deal with possible perpetrators. The problem needs to be resolved at government level, and a meeting between the Kyrgyz ambassador and a neo-Nazi leader is not going to solve it, he added. Daniil Kislov, a Moscow-based commentator on Central Asian affairs, questioned the point of holding talks with a man who did not control all of Russias various nationalist groups and had no ability to influence the nationalist sentiments commonly held in the wider Russian society. We need to remember that Demushkin is not the leader of all skinheads, said Kislov. It would be far more effective to build up an absolute intolerance of fascists and murderers through public awareness campaigns. Mirgul Akimova is a pseudonym of an independent journalist in Bishkek. SPECIAL REPORT KYRGYZ REGIONS SOLDIER ON WITHOUT POWER People in outlying areas come up with ingenious if dangerous solutions to energy shortages. By Janar Akayev, Jannat Toktosunova, Jenish Aydarov, Kumondor Usupov, Zumrad Narzullaeva and Sanjar Eraliyev in Kyrgyzstan As Kyrgyzstan endures serial power cuts for a second winter in a row, residents of outlying towns have suffered worse than most. When Soviet-era central heating systems fail and the electricity goes off, people often turn to makeshift coal- or wood-burning stoves. But they run a high risk of burning their homes down or poisoning themselves with the toxic fumes. In recent months the capital Bishkek has experienced blackouts, but these have been shared out on a district-by-district basis. The schedule of blackouts has been in place since last August in an effort to store water in the Toktogul reservoir, which feeds the countrys main hydroelectric facility. Rural areas have suffered more prolonged outages of up to 12 hours a day, yet there at least people have the option of gathering firewood, coal and the traditional dried animal dung to burn in their private houses. Those in between people who live in apartments in towns away from the capital are least able to cope, since their housing blocks were designed to run on inbuilt centralised heating and electricity networks and they have few other options when the system grinds to a halt. The town of Naryn, located in the mountains of eastern Kyrgyzstan, has very cold winters with average temperatures of minus 18 degrees Celsius this winter. Local electricity provider VostokElektro says the power was turned off for two-hour stretches twice a day from December to January 17, when the blackouts stopped. Over in the west, in the town of Talas, power company Severelektro reports that power cuts in January lasted four hours a day, an improvement on the previous month when there were blackouts of ten hours a day As weather conditions ease after temperatures that dropped into the minus twenties, IWPR reporters interviewed urban residents in various parts of the country to see how they made it through the worst of the winter. BACK TO BASICS IN MODERN FLATS Although in theory, blocks of flats are heated by a Soviet-era network of hot water piped in from municipal heating plants, the system fell into disuse long ago in most places. Residents of many multistorey blocks in the smaller towns cut their heating systems off from the centralised network of heating pipes because they did not want to pay for a service that was at best lukewarm. Instead, they turned to electric heaters, which cost them less in bills. However, power outages now rule this method out for many hours of the day. The head of Jalalabads municipal heating company, Tynybek Kozubayev, says the firm now supplies hot water to only 16 of the multistorey residential blocks in this southern town; the residents of the other 20 have cut the pipes connecting them to the system. We can now do nothing to help them, he said. If we decide to provide heating to their blocks, which are disconnected from the central system, what will happen is that the buildings will be flooded with hot water. In neighbouring Osh, managers at the local power station which also provides the city with hot water insist there have been no problems and that people installed stoves in their flats only because they wanted an additional heating source. However, Osh resident Asilbek Seitov is among those who no longer use the central heating system. I decided to cut our blocks heating system off from the central one many years ago because we were getting no heating at all. I spent 9,500 soms [about 250 US dollars] on a Chinese gas stove; thats twice my monthly wage, he said. In Talas in western Kyrgyzstan, only nine of the 53 apartment blocks have been disconnected. But as the head of heating firm TeploKommunEnergo, Nikolai Triboy, explained, those homes that still use the system have suffered intermittent breakdowns in their hot water supply over the winter. The firm operates four boiler-houses, three fired by coal and one by far the largest burning fuel oil. We had to stop the boiler-houses because of electricity cuts; our water heaters werent working and the fuel oil froze. The water heaters subsequently broke down again and some of the pipes burst. We spent the whole of December repairing the system and we were unable to provide the apartment blocks with heating, said Triboy. As for the nine disconnected blocks, he said, They want to get their blocks reconnected but it will be difficult and very expensive. We will need 100,000 soms [2,500 US dollars] to connect one block to the heating system. In Batken in the southwest, meanwhile, the heating system that supplied the towns 25 apartment blocks disintegrated years ago when the company closed down. DO-IT-YOURSELF SOLUTIONS Other people have been doubly hit because of the shortage of natural gas, which means they cannot cook. Kyrgyzstan imports all its natural gas from Uzbekistan, but has halved the amount of gas it is buying this year because its neighbour has raised prices so high. When the heating system is out and both electricity and gas supplies are at best intermittent, the commonest solution is to install a burjuika, a cast-iron stove that burns coal or wood. These were last in widespread use in the 1920s, before the Soviets installed communal heating. The stoves are best suited to one-storey detached houses, but are now a feature of many high-rise apartments, their home-made metal chimneys poking out of the window. Temperatures in Osh are somewhat warmer than in northern parts of Kyrgyzstan, but apartments are still chilly when there is no heating or electricity. Ive had to use a stove, and now I cannot imagine life without it in this cold, said Kalyk Bargybayev who lives in a multi-storey block in Osh. I use it to cook food, and my children sit around it when theyre cold. Parakhat Suyunova from Batken, also in southern Kyrgyzstan, recalled how she put an old pair of boots into her stove one day when she ran out of coal. The resulting fumes stained the upstairs flats washing a sooty black. FIRE AND TOXIC RISKS The stoves are both dirty and dangerous. According to Muhiddin Mamasadikov, the deputy mayor of Osh, burjuikas are technically illegal, but people end up using them as they are better than nothing. Oshs deputy fire chief, Gulamiddin Bazarbaev, says seven out of ten fires happen in high-rise blocks, and last year 70 were attributed to burjuikas and other stoves. Many people are now using gas stoves imported from Iran, he added. However, if you want to install one, you need to call in a technician, as any mistake with the installation can cause a major explosion. At Oshs main hospital, Mirlan Narmatov, the head of the burns unit, said most of the patients brought in during the cold spell were children. To keep their children warm, parents use electric heaters and paraffin lamps, which often cause fires and lead to severe burns, he said. With the onset of the cold weather, little children make up the majority of our patients. For example, right now we have a ten-month-old baby in a very poor state. Because the room was cold, his parents put an electric heater close to his beshik [traditional wooden cradle], which caught fire. We had another case where the parents placed a paraffin lamp too close to their babys cradle when the electricity was switched off. The cradle caught fire and the baby died of burns. The metal tubing rigged up as chimneys for burjuikas are prone to leaks, and carbon monoxide poisoning is on the increase. Last month, Dmitry Denisov, deputy head of accident and emergency services in Bishkek, told the 24.kg news agency that 72 people in Kyrgyzstan suffered carbon monoxide poisoning in the last three months of 2008, compared with 29 in the same period the previous year. Tezekbay Baysheriev, a Second World War veteran from Naryn, admits that the people living above him complain about the smoke from his stove, but he says he has no other option if he is to heat his flat. INVENTIVE HEATING METHODS Other apartment block residents have resorted to even more unusual methods for creating warmth some heat up bricks and place them under tables or beds, while others make radiators by filling containers such as vacuum flasks with boiling water. Some have resorted to cooking on fires outside in the communal yard. In Talas, the majority of residents have electric water heaters which they use whenever the power is on. Local man Kanybek Balybaev explained how he connected his heater up to the wall radiators that belonged to the now-defunct central heating system. In the northeastern town of Karakol, the administrative centre for Issyk Kul region, the electricity was off for ten hours a day, although things improved in January. Local pensioner Mahbuba Ismailova does her best to warm herself with a poorly-insulated heater, but whenever a power cut begins, she wraps herself in a blanket and goes to bed. Asel Sagymbaeva, a mother of three from Talas, dresses her children in warm clothes and wraps them in blankets when the electricity goes off. Her family is fortunate to still be connected to the centralised heating system, but it only works when there is electricity to run the pumps. Because of the power outages, the hot water stops circulating in the pipes and we dont have any heating, she said. Our children have gone down with colds and flu. My eldest son, who is just seven, caught a severe cold and was off school for a month. Sagymbaevas family does not have a burjuika but uses a range of heat sources, depending on which one is available at any given time. When the power is on, she cooks on an electric stove. She also has a gas stove but rarely uses it as gas canisters are expensive, at about 12 dollars a time. To get hot water for washing and doing the laundry, she siphons water out of the central heating system. The family even tried using an oil-fueled generator, but stopped because it was filling the apartment with fumes and making the children drowsy. When children go to school, temparatures are often no higher than at home, as public institutions are afflicted by the same problems with electricity, gas and central heating. Many schoolchildren at school have bad colds that theyve caught as a result of the frequent power outages, said Batken teacher Bunissa Imatova. One day it was so cold in my classroom that a little boy wet himself. Adults can stand the cold, but its very difficult for little children when they have to sit still for 45 minutes. Janar Akayev, Jannat Toktosunova, Jenish Aidarov, and Kumondor Usupov are freelance reporters working for RFE/RLs Kyrgyz service. Zumrad Narzullaeva and Sanjar Eraliyev are IWPR-trained journalists. **** www.iwpr.net ******************************************************************** REPORTING CENTRAL ASIA provides the international community with a unique insiders' perspective on the region. Using our network of local journalists, the service publishes news and analysis from across Central Asia on a weekly basis. The service forms part of IWPR's Central Asia Project based in Almaty, Bishkek, Tashkent and London, which supports media development and encourages better local and international understanding of the region. IWPR's Reporting Central Asia is supported by the UK Community Fund. 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IWPR programmes provide intensive hands-on training, extensive reporting and publishing, and ambitious initiatives to build the capacity of local media. Supporting peace-building, development and the rule of law, IWPR gives responsible local media a voice. IWPR - Africa, P.O. Box 3317, Johannesburg 2121 Tel: +2 711 268 6077 IWPR - Europe, 48 Grays Inn Road, London WC1X 8LT, UK Tel: +44 20 7831 1030 IWPR United States, 1616 H. Street, Washington, DC 20006, United States Tel: +1 202 449 7663 Stichting IWPR Nederland, Eisenhowerlaan 77 K, 2517 KK Den Haag, The Netherlands Tel: +31 70 338 9016 For further details on this project and other information services and media programmes, go to: www.iwpr.net ISSN: 1477-7924 Copyright © 2008 The Institute for War & Peace Reporting **** www.iwpr.net ******************************************************************** If you wish to change your subscription details or unsubscribe please go to: http://www.iwpr.net/index.php?apc_state=henh&s=s&m=p
