Uzbek leader seriously ill, misses key independence day speech for first time in 25 years
President Islam Karimov has been in power since 1991 and has no apparent successor
Uzbekistan’s veteran president, Islam Karimov, who suffered a brain haemorrhage at the weekend according to his daughter, failed to deliver his traditional independence day address for the first time in 25 years on Wednesday.
His daughter, Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva, earlier thanked well-wishers for their messages of support which she said were helping her father’s recovery – a move aimed at countering reports in some media this week that he had died.
We are really worried since we had heard that our president has fallen ill. We wish him long life
Karimov, 78, has run the president, Islam Karimov and has no apparent immediate successor.
With him now apparently in intensive care and with a power vacuum possibly looming, authorities hastily redrew plans for marking national day on September 1 and a state television presenter stepped in on Wednesday night to read a brief independence day text on Karimov’s behalf.
The newscaster made no mention of Karimov or his illness.
Had a senior official been allotted the task, the choice of speaker may have identified a likely successor. State media avoided identifying by name any of the top government officials who turned out at a flower-laying ceremony.
