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Kyrgyzstan: Business, Corruption and the Manas Airbase (Part 3)
John Daly
BAKIYEV FLEES
The diplomatic logjam over the fate of deposed President Kurbanbek Bakiyev has apparently ended, as on 15 April
While
Two issues are likely to dominate Kyrgyzstan’s political scene in upcoming weeks – negotiating as much foreign aid as possible and recovering as much of the money looted by the Bakiyev kleptocracy as possible.
FISCAL DEPREDATIONS BY THE BAKIYEV FAMILY
The scale of the fiscal depredations of Bakiyev’s inner circle is quite startling for a country of only 5 million people. According to Natsional’nyi bank Kyguzstana Acting Chairman Zair Chokoev, during the period 7-8 April, when the unrest peaked, the country’s largest commercial bank, AziiaUniversalBanke (AUB), controlled by Bakiyev’s son Maksim, sent $200 million out of the country.
Such thievery has had an immediate impact on the country’s finances; provisional Finance Minister Temir Sariyev said that as the result of such depredations, the country’s budget deficit will amount to over $20 million in April alone.
Again outpacing Washington, on 14 April Russian Finance Minister Aleksei Kudrin announced that
In contrast,
Senior leaders in the interim government that took power last week are accusing the
MANAS – A COZY BUSINESS ARRANGEMENT FROM THE START
The Manas airbase was established on 4 December 2001 under the joint Kyrgyz-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) under the administration of then President Askar Akayev. The Pentagon was granted the right to use the airbase for the bargain rent of $2 million annually, but almost immediately
THE MARCH 2005 TULIP REVOLUTION - BUSINESS AS USUAL
By early 2005 Akayev’s increasingly authoritarian turn and increasing corruption alienated many of his supporters. Another less well-known factor in undercutting his authority were the activities of a number of U.S.-based non-governmental organizations, most notably Freedom House, which published many opposition papers.
In April, having fled the unrest, Akayev signed his resignation in
In essence, shortly after the 2005 Tulip Revolution,
Manas would eventually prove an ace in Bakiyev’s hand. The base’s importance increased dramatically after the tragic May 2005 events in Andijan, Uzbekistan, when Tashkent, infuriated with Washington’s ambivalent response, on 29 July unilaterally terminated its SOFA agreement allowing the Pentagon to utilize Uzbekistan’s Karshi-Khanabad (K2) airbase, a mere 60 miles north of the Afghan border. Under the agreement’s terms, the Pentagon had 180 days to evacuate the facility, which it did.
Manas quickly proved to be a useful, if more distant and expensive, alternate base for Afghan operations. Despite being its 400 miles and 90-minutes flying time to Afghanistan, Manas dwarfed the six to eight hours flight time from other potential launching areas, such as ships or U.S. bases in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf.
ALL IN THE FAMILY, COURTESY OF THE PENTAGON
The corruption involved in the Manas lease arrangement which helped precipitate last week’s events had a long genesis, as beginning in early 2002 Akayev’s son Aydar was the recipient of annual $2 million lease payments, plus additional fees of $7,000 per takeoff and landing. In all, Akayev’s family law received $87 million and $32 million for his two airport service companies during Akayev’s tenure as president as shortly after Manas began operations, the Pentagon signed contracts with Manas International Services Ltd. and Aalam Services Ltd., the only two aviation fuel suppliers in Kyrgyzstan, both controlled by Akayev’s relatives. Compalints over American arrogance over the facility would outlast the Akayev regime.
THE LIST OF COMPLAINTS GROWS
Other simmering complaints included a 26 September 2006 aircraft collision involving a KC-135 and the presidential Tu-154 airliner, for which the Americans declined to take responsibility, and the repeated USAF practice of dumping of tons of surplus fuel over Kyrgyz farms adjoining the base. Claims by nearby farmers for compensation were denied.
Things came to a head on 6 December 2006, when 20-year old US soldier Zachary Hatfield shot twice and killed 42-year-old Kyrgyz Aleksandr Ivanov, an ethnic Russian Kyrgyz, at the airbase’s entry gate. Ivanov worked for Aerocraft Petrol Management, which provides fuel services for Kyrgyz and international civilian aircraft. Hatfield maintained that he fired in self defense after Ivanov approached him with a knife. Despite promises to make Hatfield available to the Kyrgyz judicial system, the Pentagon whisked him out of the country.
2009 – BAKIYEV PLAYS BOTH
The year 2009 began with the Bakiyev regime cozying up to
The Pentagon was certainly alarmed, despite a calm exterior. In January 2009, as negotiations were taking place in Moscow, during a trip through Central Asia, Head of U.S. Central Command General David Petraeus said in relation to Manas that “$63 million of funds (we) are giving (is) for leasing the airport, paying contracts and salaries to the local personnel.” However, Kyrgyz Foreign Minister Kadyrbek Sarbayev corrected the general’s spin for the local audience, telling journalists, said that “Kyrgyzstan gets $150 million from the USA every year, but most of these funds are not for deploying the Manas air base,” stressed that this was the “total sum” of U.S. payments and that in fact the air base rental totaled only $17.5 million per year
On 3 February 2009 Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev announced in
As the result of a full-press
WHAT CAN THE
On 10 April the United States Embassy issued a statement stopping short of endorsing Otunbayeva’s government, commenting, “We remain a committed partner to the development of
On the issue of Manas, while during an interview with RFE/RL on 8 April Otunbaeva said the interim government initially had "some questions" about the base, adding, "we will honor the agreements and commitments we have signed," a member of the Social Democratic Party of Kyrgyzstan told the author, strictly off the record, that the Otunabayeva administration had reached an agreement with Putin about a U.S. withdrawal from the Manas Transit Center, but no date was given. While the threat of the base’s immediate closure has receded for the moment, the next year will prove critical should
On the issues of securing the capital and dividing power the global community can do little, but its impact on the last issues could be immense. Whoever provides the most significant assistance in resolving these problems can expect to see a commensurate growth in its influence. If current events are anything to go by, then
Third, despite the potential embarrassment, the Pentagon should come clean about its Manas contracts and negotiate a fair rent for Manas. This may be inevitable anyway, as Congress is preparing its own probe of the Manas contracts. On 13 April a House of Representatives panel conducting a preliminary investigation into
The
The Kyrgyz people have grown weary of American “expressions” of support for democracy and human rights; if Washington truly wants to stabilize its presence in Kyrgyzstan, it can begin by understanding that Central Asia is not an American satrapy to be purchased at bargain basement prices and ignored, but that other countries have legitimate interests there as well, including security, and that an integral part of the security is “quality of life” issues, which previous U.S. arrangements with corrupt regimes have signally failed to address. The operating motto of the new provisional government may well prove to be “Show us the money – and help us find what was stolen.” It is an adage that
Parts 1 & 2 can be found at:
Part 1: http://www.oilprice.com/article-the-truth-behind-the-recent-unrest-in-kyrgyzstan-273.html
Part 2: http://www.oilprice.com/article-the-aftermath-of-the-kyrgyz-revolution-the-lesser-players-277.html
by Dr. John CK Daly for Oilprice.com who offer detailed analysis on Crude oil, Geopolitics, Gold and most other <a href="http://www.oilprice.com/articles-commodities.php" target="new">Commodities</a>. They also provide free political and economic intelligence to help investors gain a greater understanding of world events and the impact they have on certain regions and sectors. Visit: http://www.oilprice.com
April 17, 2010