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Spot the difference
People who have recently been remanded in custody without bail pending extradition proceedings in the UK: People who are believed to be in the UK without a visa, living freely with an extradition request pending since June: Just my two penn’orth.
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Kyrgyz constitution ratified
An impressive report from the Associated Press is up on the Guardian which describes a 70% turnout in the Kyrgyzstan referendum today. It seems incredible that the result is already known (and I rather suspect some people will ask questions about the speed of the count, given the circumstances) but there are heroic tales of…
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Over 100 SOS signs spotted in Osh
Images of the SOS signs painted on roads in Osh If 400,000 people fleeing their homes doesn’t quite put the problems in Kyrgyzstan in perspective, how about this story of horror from Osh. Over 100 SOS signs have been spotted by satellites imaging the city. People desperate for help who still aren’t getting it. Things…
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Kyrgyz ex-leader’s son claims asylum in the UK
I wrote a piece for the Guardian today expressing anger at the lack of international response in Kyrgyzstan. I wish now I’d spent the time doing the other thing I had thought about following up – the whereabouts of Maxim Bakiyev, son of the ousted president of Kyrgyzstan who is wanted on charges of fraud…
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Where’s the international response?
It’s going on for a week since trouble began in Osh, now, and the foreign press pack has finally arrived in the city and is starting to bring back accurate reports of death tolls and the sheer scale of the destruction. The one thing they all seem startled by, CNN, the BBC, the Guardian, is…
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An update from Kyrgyzstan
Obviously I’m not there at the moment, but I spoke to a friend of mine who’s a professor at the American University of Central Asia in Bishkek this morning to find out his thoughts on the situation. Emil’s family is from Osh, the focal point for this weekend’s extraordinary violence. He grew up there, before…
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The best we can do?
Just been reading the daily World Health Organisation report on the situation in Kyrgyzstan, which lists a breakdown of NGO and official channel activity in the Osh/Jalalabad area as well as ongoing need. It’s a clinical document which hardly conveys the horror on the ground that’s being reported, and reads as though the Red Crescent…
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Update from Kyrgyzstan
I heard back from my friend Gulmira in Bishkek over the weekend. She told me that because of a general news blackout last Wednesday, following the protests in Talas, she and her brother had gone along to Ala-Too square in central Bishkek to find out what was going on – and ended up being shot…
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Bishkek: a tragedy but not a surprise.
I don’t know an awful lot about yesterday’s fighting and violence in Kyrgyzstan other than what I’ve seen on the newswires (and the BBC, Guardian and New York Times seem like the best sources of coverage). While I’m shocked and appalled at the number of people dead – estimates up to 100 – and pictures…
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Power to the people
I’ve almost finished the feature for The Guardian, and although I hope to write more on Kyrgyzstan soon, it feels sad that this particular adventure is coming to an end. So here’s a final post about an incredible art project to round things up for the time being. It’s easy to forget, living in post-Blair…
