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                            Kerry Tours Central Asia

   by VOA News

   U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met Sunday with Uzbekistan President
   Islam Karimov in the ancient Silk Road city of Samarkand, on the second
   day of the top U.S. diplomat's tour of Central Asia.

   The 77-year-old authoritarian Uzbek president has led the country since
   1990.

   The two men met on the sidelines of a diplomatic gathering of the five
   Central Asian nations - Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan,
   Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

   Kerry was in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan Saturday -- his first stop on the
   five-nation tour.

   U.S. officials regard Kerry's visit as a way of assuring the Central
   Asian nations of the strength of their ties to Washington at a time
   when U.S.-Russian relations are on the decline. But he is also under
   pressure to speak out against the shortcomings of the Central Asian
   allies.

   U.S.-based [1]Human Rights Watch called on Kerry to express concern
   over their rights records. It asked Kerry to press for the release of
   people wrongfully imprisoned, end impunity for torture, and uphold
   other key rights commitments.

   The [2]Committee to Protect Journalists recently urged Kerry to bring
   attention to journalists jailed for political reasons and online
   censorship, and to decry physical attacks on members of the media. CPJ
   says its research indicates media freedom has "steadily worsened" in
   Central Asia in the post-Soviet era.

   Some material for this report came from AFP and Reuters.
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   [3]http://www.voanews.com/content/kerry-tours-central-asia/3031714.html

References

   1. https://www.hrw.org/
   2. https://www.cpj.org/
   3. http://www.voanews.com/content/kerry-tours-central-asia/3031714.html