Uzbekistan President Critically Ill, Kazakh Leader to Visit
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Uzbekistan's President Islam Karimov is critically ill, his government said on Friday, paving the way for the first transfer of power in Central Asia's most populous nation since 1989.
Reinforcing the impression that a change of leadership is imminent, the president of the country's neighbor Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, planned to travel to Uzbekistan on Saturday, a Kazakh government source told Reuters.
The two countries have long vied for regional leadership of the former Soviet states in Central Asia, and both men have held power since independence.
The Uzbek government - which has denied widespread speculation that Karimov, 78, may already have died - said in a statement on Friday that his health had sharply worsened.
The veteran leader has been in hospital since suffering a stroke last Saturday.
