Kazakhstan on alert for Islamic rebels

August 23, 2000
Web posted at: 10:29 a.m. HKT (0229 GMT)

ALMATY, Kazakhstan (Reuters) -- Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev called on Tuesday for vigilance to counter the threat of insurgency by Islamic rebels who have already fought government forces in two neighboring Central Asian states.

Rebels thought to belong to the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, opposed to Uzbekistan's secular President Islam Karimov, have entered both Uzbekistan and neighboring Kyrgyzstan from their bases in a third country, Tajikistan, in recent weeks.

Fierce fighting between rebels and government troops has left dozens of dead on both sides.

The insurgents are thought to be supported by Afghanistan, which lies just south of Tajikistan.

Kazakhstan, the largest republic in former Soviet Central Asia, does not border Tajikistan, but it does have frontiers with both Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. Nazarbayev said Kazakhs could not afford to be complacent.

"Kazakhs must understand that we cannot stand aside from these threats. All southern regions of the country must be absolutely vigilant. In all border regions local militia, the KNB (formerly the KGB, the security forces), armed forces and others must work together."

The five former Soviet Central Asian states are largely secular after 70 years of Soviet rule, and their leaders feel deeply threatened by the possible spread of Islam from Afghanistan and Iran.

Nazarbayev described militant Islamic propagandists as "aliens" who wanted "to force women to wear the veil and men to grow beards."

Central Asian heads of state met in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, on Saturday to discuss ways of dealing with religious extremism. Russia was represented by Sergei Ivanov, secretary of its Security Council.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Kazakhstan
CIA -- The World Factbook 1999 -- Kazakhstan

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