23 April 2002
TAN-TV CHANNEL FACES NEW PROBLEMS
Bakhytzhan Kilibaev, the general director of TAN-TV, told a press conference at the National Press Club in Almaty on 23 April that his channel is not able to resume broadcasting. He explained that although his technicians repaired all the technical equipment supporting TAN-TV programs' broadcasting a week ago, "the Communications Committee at the Kazakh Ministry of Transportation and Communications is reluctant to permit our programs' broadcasting officially." Kilibaev said that he and his associates make at least 10 phone calls to the ministry every day trying to clarify the situation but have not yet been given any concrete information.
Kilibaev said he is sure that the problems faced by TAN-TV are politically motivated. He said that his channel has covered the latest events connected with former Pavlodar Oblast Governor Ghalymzhan Zhaqiyanov and former Kazakh Minister of Trade and Industry Mukhtar Abliyazov, both of whom face charges of alleged financial mishandling. Zhaqiyanov is kept under house arrest in Pavlodar city, where he was taken forcibly from his apartment in Almaty two weeks ago. Abliyazov was transferred to Astana from Almaty's central jail last weekend.
Both politicians are leading members of the opposition movement Democratic Choice for Kazakhstan (DVK). They say that all the accusations brought against them are politically motivated. DVK was created in the wake of political crisis in November last year and openly challenges President Nursultan Nazarbaev.
KAZAKH ARMY TO GUARD INDUSTRIAL FACILITIES
The of Chief the Kazakh army's General Staff, General Malik Saparov, told journalists on 23 April that the Kazakh armed forces will guard all important industrial facilities in the country, including oil depots, plants and factories, mines, and shipyards. He did not specify the rationale for that decision.
ECONOMIC GROWTH REPORTED AT KAZAKH CABINET'S SESSION
Kazakh Prime Minister Imanghaliy Tasmaghambetov chaired a cabinet session on 23 April. It was reported that Kazakhstan's economy registered 5-7 percent growth in the first quarter of 2002 compared with the same period last year.
KAZAKHSTAN JOINS UN CONVENTION ON FIGHT AGAINST TRANSNATIONAL ORGANIZED CRIME AND CORRUPTION.
At a 23 April session the Senate Committee on International Affairs, Defense, and Security decided that Kazakhstan will join the UN Convention on Fight against Transnational Organized Crime adopted by the UN General Assembly on 15 November 2000 at its 55th session.