Uzbekistan threatens to withdraw from GUUAM

RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 9, No. 19, Part I, 31 January 2005

...AND SUGGESTS THAT UKRAINE EVENTS COULD LEAD UZBEKISTAN TO LEAVE GUUAM. Speaking at a news conference after his address to parliament on 28 January, President Karimov said that events in Georgia and Ukraine could lead Uzbekistan to pull out of GUUAM (Georgia, Ukraine,Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Moldova), Uzbek Television First Channel reported. "The tendencies that are taking place now in Ukraine and Georgia -- and also in Moldova, which is a member of GUUAM -- make us reconsider our relations again and again: whether or not we should continue participating in GUUAM in the future," Karimov said. "We have not yet adopted any decision on this account. However, I think we will solve this issue in the near future." Karimov also lambasted the Commonwealth of Independent States for its ineffectiveness and stressed that U.S. troops will leave Uzbekistan once the U.S. contingent leaves Afghanistan. Uzbekistan has previously suspended and then reaffirmed its membership in GUUAM (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 28 May 2003 and 26 June 2004). DK

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