An audacious attempt by Borat’s home country to win the chairmanship of an international body that champions free elections and human rights has left Britain and America in a real-life dispute with much of Europe.

Kazakhstan, the Central Asian republic lampooned in Sacha Baron Cohen’s film, is seeking support for its bid to chair the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in 2009.

The bid is backed by many European states, including France, which highlights Kazakhstan’s strategic importance as an alternative to Russia as a supplier of energy to the EU. Kazakhstan holds, potentially, a quarter of the future energy needs of the EU in largely undeveloped reserves.

However, at a two-day OSCE summit in Brussels yesterday, Britain and the US made it clear that they believe the country is not yet ready to lead the organisation of European and Central Asian states.

The OSCE criticised last year’s elections in Kazakhstan — in which Nursultan Nazarbayev, the President since the country won independence from Russia in 1991, won 91 per cent of the vote.

Yesterday in Brussels Mr Nazarbayev told foreign ministers, including Geoff Hoon, teyh British Europe Minister, that his country deserved to become the first from its troubled region to chair the 56-member OSCE.

He said that his country had made progress in modernising its economy and liberalising society. “We have been a fully fledged member of this organisation since 1997 and we have achieved impressive results in economic success and the liberalisation of society which have been recognised in the world,” he said. “In a world full of war and bloodshed based on religious reasons, Kazakhstan enjoys peace and co-existence between a population of 130 nationalities and

46 religions. I think it is a very valuable experience that might be shared by the OSCE.”

British officials, however, pointed to the harassment of journalists and opposition politicians as well as a recent police raid on a Hare Krishna community as reasons why Kazakhstan was not yet ready. The Hare Krishna raid was criticised by the OSCE. Only last month a spokesman said: “The advisory council expresses deep concern about the news of demolition of the houses belonging to the Hare Krishna community and calls on the Kazakh authorities to stop further demolition work and provide humanitarian aid to those citizens whose houses have been destroyed.”

One British source said: “In future we are in favour of a Central Asian chair of the OSCE but obviously any chair of the organisation has got to exemplify the principles and commitments of the OSCE.”

The decision requires unanimous consent and under a compromise put forward by the US Kazakhstan would be given the chairmanship for 2011 with a series of benchmarks for further internal reforms. But this is meeting stiff resistance from Mr Nazarbayev. Standing next to José Manuel Barroso, the European Commission President, Mr Nazarbayev yesterday even claimed the support of the whole EU for his case, saying: “We appreciate the support of the EU to the bid by Kazakhstan to become chairman of the OSCE in 2009.”

This forced Mr Barroso to make a rather awkward clarification.

“The European Commission has no position in that matter,” he said, trying to laugh off the correction.

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