Kyrgyzstan tears up co-operation accord with US

BISHKEK:  Ex-Soviet Kyrgyzstan last week
announced it was tearing up a long -running
co-operation agreement with the United States
after Washington awarded a rights prize to a
jailed ethnic minority campaigner.

Central Asian Kyrgyzstan and the United States
inked a co-operation deal in 1993 and the
strategically located nation hosted a key US
military base supplying the war effort in
Afghanistan until 2014.

Kyrgyzstan however ,has pursued a strongly
 pro-Russian foreign policy since incumbent
President Almazbek  Atambayev was elected
in 2011.

Washington warned Monday that any move
to sever the agreement "could put assistance
programmes that benefit the Kyrgyzstani
people in jeopardy"

Kyrgyzstan 's foreign ministry last week
slammed the US state Department's decision
to give its Human Rights Defender Award
to Azimjon Askarov ,an ethnic Uebek.

Askarov was sentenced to live imprisonment
for his alleged role in  inciting clashes between
Uzbek and Kyrgyz  in the south of the country
five years ago,

A number of foreign governments and civil
rights advocates inside and outside the country
have spoken out against the jailing of Askarov
 who was noted for regularly exposing the
excesses of local police in the ethnically
divided region,

The bilateral co-operation agreement is
expected to be officially terminated
from August 20'
AFP