UZBEKISTAN -Profile - Islam Karimov.

Aged 65, Karimov is president of the republic and the next presidential election is not due until Dec. 2007. He is the man in charge of the petroleum sector and of any other matter of importance to this state. A Communist turned pragmatist, he is a dictator with an iron fist, like President Saparmurat Niyazov of Turkmenistan. He runs what he calls "a democracy, Uzbek style". He has allowed small private businesses to spring up all over the country. Karimov has said the transition from the old Soviet system must be "painless and gradual". For foreign companies interested in Uzbekistan, this means adjusting to a slower pace of economic reform compared to Russia or other fellow CIS members.

In a move to "improve the efficiency of the oil and gas sector", Karimov decreed in Jan. 1993 that all activities, from exploration to marketing, should be under the control of Uzbekneftegaz, which has since become a state monopoly but will be privatised before end-2002. He insists his decision-making process is better than that of other CIS republics, though some foreign executives who have met him have found the man to be too sure of himself.

Hailing from a prominent Uzbek family of civil servants, once part of the Turkic nobility, Karimov was educated as a Soviet economist. He finished the Central Asian Polytechnic and the Tashkent Institute of national economy, receiving degrees as an engineer-mechanic and economist. He began his career in 1960 at Tashselmash. From 1961-66 he worked as an engineer, a leading engineer-constructor at the Chkalov Tashkent aviation production complex. In 1966 he moved to the state planning office of the Uzbek SSR where he worked as chief specialist and later as first deputy chairman of the State planning office.

In 1983, Karimov was appointed Minister of finance of the Uzbek SSR, and in 1986 as deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers and chairman of the State planning office. In 1986-89 he was elevated to first secretary of the Kashkadarya provincial party committee. In June 1989, he became first secretary of the Central committee of the Communist Party of Uzbekistan and on March 24, 1990, he was elected President of the Uzbek SSR. On Aug. 31, 1991, he declared the independence of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

Having carefully phased his switch from Communist concepts to a Chinese brand of capitalism, he believes his way of handling things is the best among FSU's rulers. He is confident that, eventually in per capita terms, Uzbekistan will become the richest republic in the FSU. He says this is why he is particularly keen on personally handling the sectors of hydrocarbons, gold and other minerals, and cotton.

Karimov cannot tolerate opposition. Dissidents, be they Islamic, leftist or rightist, are jailed en masse and without trial. Some of the dangerous ones among those in exile in neighbouring republics are kidnapped and brought back to jail. He has kept the Soviet rule requiring foreigners to get separate permits to visit different towns, and all residents must register.

Karimov's secret police network, now called KNB, is "just another KGB", as his critics call it. No political grouping is allowed other than his Democratic People's Party (PPD), the former Communist Party which he used to head until late 1991, and the Watan Tarakiotti (Homeland & Progress Party) which he helped found in 1992 to prove that his regime was pluralistic. Members of the latter party used to be Communists.

His PPD won a crushing victory in legislative elections held on Dec. 25, 1994 and Jan. 8, 1995, as it got 231 of a new 250-seat parliament called "Olie Majlis" (people's assembly) which replaced the Supreme Soviet of Uzbekistan. (Inherited from the USSR, the Supreme Soviet had been elected for five years in February 1990). Another Majlis election was held in 2000. A referendum in Jan. 2002 extended Karimov's term to 2007 and the Central Electoral Commission said 91% of the 13m registered voters - asked to answer a simple question: "Are you in favour of extending the President's mandate from 2005 to 2007?" - cast a "yes" ballot. On April 5 the Majlis voted to hold the next presidential election in Dec. 2007.

At the court trying his opponents, the male defendants are locked in a cage. To those human rights groups who criticise his regime, Karimov simply mentions countries destabilised by Islamic militancy, like Algeria and Egypt. He mentions the Islamic revolution in Iran as an example of what can be expected in such countries.

Regionally, Karimov projects himself as a policeman, in view of Uzbekistan's position as the most populous country in Central Asia with potentially dangerous minorities and of its borders with Afghanistan and Tajikistan. He has close ties with Afghan warlord Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum, an ethnic Uzbek, and with Tajikistan's Moscow-backed leader Imamali Rakhmonov. Dostum, a chameleon-like character who has changed sides so many times since the late 1970s, is distrusted by all other warlords and politicians in Afghanistan. US forces in the country, one of whose tasks now is to protect Afghan President Hamid Karzai, have been instructed to keep close watch on Dostum and his aides.