Sunday, June 05, 2005
Is Central Asia dangerous?
No it s not.
I will go to Tajikistan and Uzbekistan in August for a development projekt aimed at schools in the region. The question many people ask me is if it is not dangerous to go there. It should however not be any problems as long as I act in a sensible way. I have checked the homepages of the Swedish, Canadian and Australian departments of foreign affairs. The Swedish UD accually advice Swedes to avoid non-essential trips to Uzbekistan. That is a milder degree of travel warning than if they were to advise against ALL trips to the country.
The Canadians warn their citizens from travelling to the Kyrgyz republic and to the trubelsome regions in eastern Uzbekistan (excluding the capital Tashkent). I did´nt have plans on doing that anyway...
The Australian department advice against all non-essential travels to Kyrgyzstan. They do not advice their citizens against going to Uzbekistan, but they write as follows: "Australians in Uzbekistan are advised to exercise extreme caution. Recent reports suggest that terrorists may be in the advanced stages of planning attacks. These could occur at any time, anywhere in Uzbekistan, including the capital Tashkent, and could be directed against a range of targets, including locations known to be frequented by foreigners." Well, that is a bit to vague to avoid the country. Sometime there might occur a terroristattack somewere jalla jalla... I could figure that out without help from the Australian intelligence service. If it is the same sources that claimed Iraq had weapens of mass destructions I will be very safe in Tashkent.
Lonely planet is the only homepage I have checked that warns for (some parts of) Tajikistan. Not the capital though. They don´t say anything at all about Uzbekistan... who shall one believe...?
Tajikistan seems as safe as any other place. The question is Uzbekistan. It is hard to know since everyone issue different kinds of warnings. I will monitor the development and I have to be prepered to change my plans but at the moment I am still aiming at going to both countries.
Here are some links.
Swedish travelwarnings:
http://www.regeringen.se/sb/d/3436
Canadian travelwarnings: http://www.voyage.gc.ca/dest/sos/warnings-en.asp
Australian travelwarnings: http://www.smartraveller.gov.au/zw-cgi/view/Advice/
Lonely planet´s travel warnings: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/travel_ticker/
I will go to Tajikistan and Uzbekistan in August for a development projekt aimed at schools in the region. The question many people ask me is if it is not dangerous to go there. It should however not be any problems as long as I act in a sensible way. I have checked the homepages of the Swedish, Canadian and Australian departments of foreign affairs. The Swedish UD accually advice Swedes to avoid non-essential trips to Uzbekistan. That is a milder degree of travel warning than if they were to advise against ALL trips to the country.
The Canadians warn their citizens from travelling to the Kyrgyz republic and to the trubelsome regions in eastern Uzbekistan (excluding the capital Tashkent). I did´nt have plans on doing that anyway...
The Australian department advice against all non-essential travels to Kyrgyzstan. They do not advice their citizens against going to Uzbekistan, but they write as follows: "Australians in Uzbekistan are advised to exercise extreme caution. Recent reports suggest that terrorists may be in the advanced stages of planning attacks. These could occur at any time, anywhere in Uzbekistan, including the capital Tashkent, and could be directed against a range of targets, including locations known to be frequented by foreigners." Well, that is a bit to vague to avoid the country. Sometime there might occur a terroristattack somewere jalla jalla... I could figure that out without help from the Australian intelligence service. If it is the same sources that claimed Iraq had weapens of mass destructions I will be very safe in Tashkent.
Lonely planet is the only homepage I have checked that warns for (some parts of) Tajikistan. Not the capital though. They don´t say anything at all about Uzbekistan... who shall one believe...?
Tajikistan seems as safe as any other place. The question is Uzbekistan. It is hard to know since everyone issue different kinds of warnings. I will monitor the development and I have to be prepered to change my plans but at the moment I am still aiming at going to both countries.
Here are some links.
Swedish travelwarnings:
http://www.regeringen.se/sb/d/3436
Canadian travelwarnings: http://www.voyage.gc.ca/dest/sos/warnings-en.asp
Australian travelwarnings: http://www.smartraveller.gov.au/zw-cgi/view/Advice/
Lonely planet´s travel warnings: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/travel_ticker/
