Storm clouds over Bishkek

This weekend, around 1,500 opposition activists are preparing for confrontation in Kyrgyzstan -- a country that is smaller and poorer than its neighbouring Central Asian republics, but no less autocratic.

The critics of President Kurmanbeck Bakiyev -- who swept to power in December just three months after changing the constitution -- have re-grouped under a new alliance calling itself 'For Justice'. Their congress on Saturday, originally billed as an alternative parliament, will test whether the movement can hold together enough to mount a serious challenge.

Storm clouds are gathering over Bakiyev's regime. Along with unsubstantiated reports of the president's ill health, Kyrgyzstan's economy is taking a battering from regional and global trends, most seriously the rising cost of food and fuel.

• Neighbouring Kazakhstan says it will impose a grain export tax, potentially leading to a reprise of serious shortages seen last year.
• Central Asia's oil and gas exporters are receiving ever more for their wares -- but for Kyrgyzstan, this just means a bigger import bill.
• The government now plans to hike electricity prices by 13% and water prices by 20%.

Growing remittances from Russia and Kazakhstan are propping up the economy. Yet with double-digit inflation hitting basic goods, there is enough public discontent to worry Bakiyev.