Timeline: Unrest in Kyrgyzstan’s south

June 29, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Here is a timeline on Kyrgyzstan in the past five years:

March 21, 2005 – Osh, Kyrgyzstan’s second biggest city, falls to opposition control as protests sweep across the south to demand the resignation of President Askar Akayev.

March 24 – Kyrgyzstan’s opposition declares itself in power after seizing key buildings as Akayev vanishes after protests.

March 25 – Opposition party leader Kurmanbek Bakiyev is named acting president. Akayev confirms reports he has left the country, but says he has not resigned.

March 28 – Kyrgyzstan’s new parliament takes over and confirms Bakiyev as prime minister as well as acting president.

July 10 – Bakiyev wins presidential elections.

November 8, 2006 – Parliament adopts a new constitution reducing the president’s powers.

February 19, 2009 – Parliament votes to close the only U.S. air base in Central Asia. Washington later agrees to pay $180 million to Kyrgyzstan to keep the base open.

March 17, 2010 – Thousands of Kyrgyz protesters threaten to oust Bakiyev if he fails to accept their demands within a week.

April 3 – Visiting U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon calls on Kyrgyzstan to protect human rights after protesters shout “help us” as he drove to parliament.

April 7 – Bakiyev orders a state of emergency in Bishkek and three other areas after police clash with protesters. He later flees to southern Kyrgyzstan, his traditional power base.

April 8 – Opposition leader Roza Otunbayeva says she is taking over the president’s and government’s responsibilities.

April 12 – The U.S. welcomes statements from the interim government that it will abide by agreements covering the U.S. air base that supports military operations in Afghanistan.

April 15 – The ousted president Bakiyev leaves Kyrgyzstan for Kazakhstan. At least 85 people are killed in the upheaval.

April 27 – The interim government says it has charged Bakiyev with “mass killing.”

May 13 – Bakiyev supporters seize control of government buildings in the cities of Osh, Jalalabad and Batken. A day later the interim government says it has regained control.

May 19 – A state of emergency is declared in Jalalabad after two people die and 74 are injured in clashes between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks in southern Kyrgyzstan.

– Otunbayeva’s government says she will act as president until the end of 2011, after which she will be replaced.

June 10/11 – Ethnic conflict between ethnic Kyrgyz and ethnic Uzbeks flares up in Osh and the southern region. The interim government declares a state of emergency.

June 13 – Bakiyev issues a statement from Belarus denying he is behind the clashes.

June 18 – The United Nations says 300,000 are displaced in Kyrgyzstan and another 100,000 people have crossed over into Uzbekistan. June 20 – The government extends state of emergency in Osh and three surrounding regions until June 25.

June 21 – Otunbayeva pledges to press ahead with a referendum on June 27.Security forces clash with ethnic Uzbeks near Osh killing at least two. At least 250 people have been killed and the interim government says it could be up to 2,000.

June 27 – Kyrgyz vote in referendum that new rulers hope will pave the way for the creation of Central Asia’s first parliamentary democracy.

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TIMELINE-Unrest in Kyrgyzstan’s south

June 28, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – Kyrgyzstan voted on Sunday in a referendum whether to become Central Asia’s first parliamentary democracy after a wave of ethnic bloodshed.

Here is a timeline on Kyrgyzstan in the past five years:

March 21, 2005 – Osh, Kyrgyzstan’s second biggest city, falls to opposition control as protests sweep across the south to demand the resignation of President Askar Akayev.

March 24 – Kyrgyzstan’s opposition declares itself in power after seizing key buildings as Akayev vanishes after protests.

March 25 – Opposition party leader Kurmanbek Bakiyev is named acting president. Akayev confirms reports he has left the country, but says he has not resigned.

March 28 – Kyrgyzstan’s new parliament takes over and confirms Bakiyev as prime minister as well as acting president.

July 10 – Bakiyev wins presidential elections.

Nov. 8, 2006 – Parliament adopts a new constitution reducing the president’s powers.

Feb. 19, 2009 – Parliament votes to close the only U.S. air base in Central Asia. Washington later agrees to pay $180 million to Kyrgyzstan to keep the base open.

March 17, 2010 – Thousands of Kyrgyz protesters threaten to oust Bakiyev if he fails to accept their demands within a week.

April 3 – Visiting U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon calls on Kyrgyzstan to protect human rights after protesters shout “help us” as he drove to parliament.

April 7 – Bakiyev orders a state of emergency in Bishkek and three other areas after police clash with protesters. He later flees to southern Kyrgyzstan, his traditional power base.

April 8 – Opposition leader Roza Otunbayeva says she is taking over the president’s and government’s responsibilities.

April 12 – The U.S. welcomes statements from the interim government that it will abide by agreements covering the U.S. air base that supports military operations in Afghanistan.

April 15 – The ousted president Bakiyev leaves Kyrgyzstan for Kazakhstan. At least 85 people are killed in the upheaval.

April 27 – The interim government says it has charged Bakiyev with “mass killing”.

May 13 – Bakiyev supporters seize control of government buildings in the cities of Osh, Jalalabad and Batken. A day later the interim government says it has regained control.

May 19 – A state of emergency is declared in Jalalabad after two people die and 74 are injured in clashes between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks in southern Kyrgyzstan.

– Otunbayeva’s government says she will act as president until the end of 2011, after which she will be replaced.

June 10/11 – Ethnic conflict between ethnic Kyrgyz and ethnic Uzbeks flares up in Osh and the southern region. The interim government declares a state of emergency.

June 13 – Bakiyev issues a statement from Belarus denying he is behind the clashes.

June 18 – The United Nations says 300,000 are displaced in Kyrgyzstan and another 100,000 people have crossed over into Uzbekistan. June 20 – The government extends state of emergency in Osh and three surrounding regions until June 25.

June 21 – Otunbayeva pledges to press ahead with a referendum on June 27.Security forces clash with ethnic Uzbeks near Osh killing at least two.At least 250 people have been killed and the interim government says it could be up to 2,000.

June 27 – Kyrgyz vote in referendum that new rulers hope will pave the way for the creation of Central Asia’s first parliamentary democracy.

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Kyrgyz turmoil could breed Islamist militancy – U.N.

June 18, 2010 By Leave a Comment

BISHKEK, June 17 (Reuters) – Turmoil in Kyrgyzstan offers an ideal breeding ground for Islamist militancy in the Muslim region north of Afghanistan and the government must act quickly to curb any further violence, a U.N. envoy said.

Kyrgyzstan’s ethnically divided south has been turbulent since a revolt in April toppled its president, Kurmanbek Bakiyev, and brought an interim government to power.

Russia and the West fear that instability in the ex-Soviet republic, which lies on a major drug trafficking route out of Afghanistan, could produce a safe haven to militants, particularly in the over-populated Ferghana valley.

“There is a threat of extremism in Ferghana valley and, more broadly, in Central Asia as a whole, in the sense that Central Asia borders Afghanistan,” United Nations Special Envoy Miroslav Jenca told Reuters in an interview late on Wednesday.

“There are various extremist organisations … And of course in these circumstances they are finding a fertile ground to filfil their plans.”

At least 191 people have been killed since June 10 in Kyrgyzstan’s south in an outburst of ethnic violence between its two main ethnic groups, Kyrgyz and Uzbeks.

The violence has subsided in the last few days in a country where Russia and the United States have military air bases.

Up to 100,000 people have fled their homes and set up camps in Ferghana valley where Kyrgyzstan borders Uzbekistan.

Humanitarian aid has been flowing to the south but obvservers say it is not reaching many neighourhoods that have barricaded themselves in fear of further violence.

Islamist extremism is rare in Central Asia, a secular region ruled from Moscow until the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991.

But deepening problems such as poverty, illiteracy and people’s growing frustration with their governments have made them more susceptible to Islamist ideas, emboldening radical groups to gain strength in Central Asia.

Those include the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and the less radical Hizb ut-Tahrir group but there have been no signs of increased militant activity since the April revolt.

The new leadership plans to hold a referendum on June 27 to vote on constitutional changes. Some officials have suggested Kyrgyzstan delay the poll until the situation stabilises.

“If they (elections) are organised incorrectly then of course that would lead to big problems,” Jenca said.

“The government has to assess whether it can organise the referendum in a way that would be legitimate, so it could be recognised.”

(For more on Kyrgyzstan click on [ID:nLDE65A145])

(Writing by Maria Golovnina; Editing by Michael Roddy)

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UPDATE 1-Chaarat Gold says unaffected by Kyrgyz clashes

June 16, 2010 By Leave a Comment

June 15 (Reuters) – Chaarat Gold Holdings Ltd (CGH.L), a gold exploration company in Kyrgyzstan, said its operations in Bishkek and at site in the north west of the country have been unaffected by the ethnic violence in the south.

Shares in London-listed Charaat fell 7.1 percent on Monday as the number of people killed in ethnic clashes in the former Soviet republic rose to at least 124.

- For more on Kyrgyzstan click on [ID:nLDE65A145]

(Reporting by Julie Crust; editing by James Davey)

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Chaarat Gold says unaffected by Kyrgyz clashes

June 16, 2010 By Leave a Comment

LONDON, June 15 (Reuters) – Chaarat Gold Holdings Ltd (CGH.L), a gold exploration company in Kyrgyzstan, said its operations in Bishkek and at site in the north west of the country have been unaffected by the ethnic violence in the south.

Shares in London-listed Charaat fell 7.1 percent on Monday as the number of people killed in ethnic clashes in the former Soviet republic rose to at least 124.

- For more on Kyrgyzstan click on [ID:nLDE65A145]

(Reporting by Julie Crust; editing by James Davey)

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Ethnic Uzbeks tell of slaughter in Kyrgyz city

June 14, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Kyrgyzstan (Reuters) – Ethnic Uzbeks said Kyrgyz gangs were carrying out genocide on Sunday in besieged neighborhoods of Kyrgyzstan’s second city Osh, burning residents out of their homes and shooting them as they fled.

World | Kyrgyzstan

Thousands of women and children have fled Osh for the border with Uzbekistan to escape gangs armed with assault rifles, machetes and iron bars. Those that remain blockaded the entrances to their neighborhoods with trucks.

“We are standing at the barricade waiting for them to attack again,” said Bakhram Magrafimov, 45, a taxi driver in the mainly Uzbek area of Pyanny Bazar. Residents complained their hunting rifles were no match for the automatic weapons of their enemies.

“They said: ‘Go back to Uzbekistan.’ They are attacking our women and children,” said Magrafimov.

But residents said armed troops had refused to escort Uzbeks to the border, only 10 km (6 miles) away in a region where the borders drawn by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin intertwine the two countries in the volatile Fergana valley.

Kholbek, an ethnic Uzbek who gave only his first name, said residents were afraid to leave: “There are snipers out there.”

Kyrgyzstan’s worst ethnic clashes in two decades have spread across the south of the impoverished Central Asian state, which hosts U.S. and Russian military bases.

At least 97 people have been killed and more than 1,200 wounded in three days of violence.

The interim government of Kyrgyzstan, which assumed power in April after a popular revolt toppled the president, has ordered a shoot-to-kill policy for its troops in the south.

But Roza Otunbayeva’s government has only limited control in the south, which is separated by mountains from the capital Bishkek, about 300 km (190 miles) away.

Otunbayeva has accused the ousted president, Kurmanbek Bakiyev, of stoking ethnic violence in his southern stronghold. Bakiyev, exiled in Belarus, has denied this.

Several witnesses told Reuters that the military was also shooting Uzbeks. Takhir Maksitov of human rights group Citizens Against Corruption, barricaded into his home, said he believed there could be a political dimension to the slaughter.

“This is genocide, because there are many Uzbeks here and if we were to create our own party and go to the polls…” He did not finish the sentence.

“Send in the peacekeepers, Russia, the U.N., whoever. The most important thing is to the stop the slaughter,” he said.

Habibullah Khurulayev, a 69-year old retired builder, said the police were doing nothing to stop the massacre.

“They are killing us with impunity,” he said.

Residents said the gunfire had subsided toward the evening and that some of the attackers had retreated.

“There was gunfire from the morning. It stopped three or four hours ago,” said Magrafimov. “They are people too. They have to rest, to drink tea.

“But they are well organised. They know what they are doing.”

(Reporting by Olga Dzyubenko in Bishkek, Robin Paxton in Almaty and Conor Humphries in Moscow; writing by Robin Paxton; editing by Noah Barkin)

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Ethnic Uzbeks tell of slaughter in Kyrgyz city

June 14, 2010 By Leave a Comment

OSH, Kyrgyzstan, June 13 (Reuters) – Ethnic Uzbeks said Kyrgyz gangs were carrying out genocide on Sunday in besieged neighbourhoods of Kyrgyzstan’s second city Osh, burning residents out of their homes and shooting them as they fled.

Thousands of women and children have fled Osh for the border with Uzbekistan to escape gangs armed with assault rifles, machetes and iron bars. Those that remain blockaded the entrances to their neighbourhoods with trucks. “We are standing at the barricade waiting for them to attack again,” said Bakhram Magrafimov, 45, a taxi driver in the mainly Uzbek area of Pyanny Bazar. Residents complained their hunting rifles were no match for the automatic weapons of their enemies.

“They said: ‘Go back to Uzbekistan.’ They are attacking our women and children,” said Magrafimov.

But residents said armed troops had refused to escort Uzbeks to the border, only 10 km (6 miles) away in a region where the borders drawn by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin intertwine the two countries in the volatile Fergana valley. Kholbek, an ethnic Uzbek who gave only his first name, said residents were afraid to leave: “There are snipers out there.”

Kyrgyzstan’s worst ethnic clashes in two decades have spread across the south of the impoverished Central Asian state, which hosts U.S. and Russian military bases.

At least 97 people have been killed and more than 1,200 wounded in three days of violence. [ID:nLDE65C03K]

The interim government of Kyrgyzstan, which assumed power in April after a popular revolt toppled the president, has ordered a shoot-to-kill policy for its troops in the south.

But Roza Otunbayeva’s government has only limited control in the south, which is separated by mountains from the capital Bishkek, about 300 km (190 miles) away.

Otunbayeva has accused the ousted president, Kurmanbek Bakiyev, of stoking ethnic violence in his southern stronghold. Bakiyev, exiled in Belarus, has denied this.

Several witnesses told Reuters that the military was also shooting Uzbeks. Takhir Maksitov of human rights group Citizens Against Corruption, barricaded into his home, said he believed there could be a political dimension to the slaughter.

“This is genocide, because there are many Uzbeks here and if we were to create our own party and go to the polls…” He did not finish the sentence.

“Send in the peacekeepers, Russia, the U.N., whoever. The most important thing is to the stop the slaughter,” he said.

Habibullah Khurulayev, a 69-year old retired builder, said the police were doing nothing to stop the massacre.

“They are killing us with impunity,” he said.

Residents said the gunfire had subsided toward the evening and that some of the attackers had retreated.

“There was gunfire from the morning. It stopped three or four hours ago,” said Magrafimov. “They are people too. They have to rest, to drink tea.

“But they are well organised. They know what they are doing.” (Reporting by Olga Dzyubenko in Bishkek, Robin Paxton in Almaty and Conor Humphries in Moscow; writing by Robin Paxton; editing by Noah Barkin)

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Timeline: New clashes in Kyrgyzstan’s south

June 14, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Here is a timeline on Kyrgyzstan in the last five years:

March 21, 2005 – Osh, Kyrgyzstan’s second biggest city, falls to opposition control as protests sweep across the country’s south to demand the resignation of President Askar Akayev.

March 23 – Police violently break up a protest in the capital, Bishkek, and the interior minister says prepared to use force and weapons to restore order.

March 24 – Kyrgyzstan’s opposition declares itself in power after seizing key buildings as Akayev vanishes after protests.

March 25 – Opposition party leader Kurmanbek Bakiyev is named acting president. Akayev confirms reports he has left the country, but says he has not resigned.

March 28 – Kyrgyzstan’s new parliament takes over and confirms Bakiyev as prime minister as well as acting president.

July 10 – Bakiyev wins presidential elections.

November 8, 2006 – Parliament adopts a new constitution reducing the president’s powers. The opposition, which had staged days of protests calling on the president to quit if he would not cede to their demands, hailed the vote as a victory.

February 19, 2009 – Parliament votes to close the only U.S. air base in Central Asia. Washington later agrees to pay $180 million to Kyrgyzstan to keep the base open.

March 17, 2010 – Thousands of Kyrgyz protesters threaten to oust Bakiyev if he fails to accede to their demands within a week, five years after violent protests propelled him to power.

April 3 – Visiting U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon calls on Kyrgyzstan to protect human rights after protesters shout “help us” as he drove to parliament.

April 7 – Bakiyev orders a state of emergency in Bishkek and three other areas after police clash with protesters. He later flees to southern Kyrgyzstan, his traditional power base.

– Some 1,000 people storm the prosecutor-general’s office in the capital.

– Plumes of smoke billow from the White House, the main seat of government, as crowds rampage through the building.

– Opposition activists also take control of state television channel KTR.

April 8 – Opposition leader Roza Otunbayeva says she is taking over the president’s and government’s responsibilities. She says the government has resigned and the opposition is negotiating the resignation of Bakiyev.

– Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin speaks to Otunbayeva effectively recognizing her government.

April 9 – Otunbayeva says she will guarantee the safety of Bakiyev and allow him to leave the country if he resigns.

April 12 – The U.S. welcomes statements from the interim government that it will abide by agreements covering a U.S. air base that supports military operations in Afghanistan.

April 15 – The ousted president Bakiyev leaves Kyrgyzstan for Kazakhstan. At least 85 people are killed in the upheaval.

April 27 – The interim government says it has charged Bakiyev with “mass killing” and has formally prepared an extradition request.

May 4 – Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko says he will not hand over Bakiyev to face charges over the violent upheaval last month.

May 13 – Bakiyev supporters seize control of government buildings in the cities of Osh, Jalalabad and Batken, kidnap the governor of Jalalabad region and try to take control of the area’s main airport in Osh.

May 14 – The interim government says it has regained control across the south after at least two people die in violent clashes with supporters of the ousted president.

May 19 – A state of emergency is declared in Jalalabad after two people die and 74 are injured in clashes between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks in southern Kyrgyzstan.

– Otunbayeva’s government says she will act as president until the end of 2011, after which she will be replaced.

June 11 – At least 17 people are killed and 253 wounded as ethnic conflict flares up in Osh and in the southern region.

– The interim government declares a state of emergency in four southern regions.

(Writing by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit)

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Kyrgyz govt to reinforce south, ethnic riots kill 80

June 14, 2010 By Leave a Comment

OSH, Kyrgyzstan, June 13 (Reuters) – Kyrgyzstan will send reserve forces and volunteers to its troubled south on Sunday after a third night of gun battles took the death toll to 80 in the Central Asian state’s worst ethnic violence in two decades.

The interim government of Kyrgyzstan, an ex-Soviet republic hosting U.S. and Russian military bases, granted shoot-to-kill powers to its security forces after deadly riots between ethnic Uzbeks and Kyrgyz in the southern cities of Osh and Jalalabad.

The Interior Ministry said in a statement it would send a volunteer force to the south because the situation in Osh and Jalalabad regions — strongholds of ousted president Kurmanbek Bakiyev — remained “complex and tense”.

A Reuters correspondent said gunfire could be heard from an Uzbek neighbourhood of Osh, Kyrgyzstan’s second-largest city, where homes and businesses have been burned to the ground, but the shootouts had become less frequent than 24 hours ago.

Renewed turmoil in Kyrgyzstan has fuelled concern in Russia, the United States and neighbour China. Washington uses an air base at Manas in the north of the country, about 300 km (190 miles) from Osh, to supply its forces in Afghanistan.

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Facts on south Kyrgyz ethnic tinderbox [ID:nLDE65A0Q3]

Facts on Kyrgyzstan's second city of Osh [ID:nLDE65A1RA]

Political risks in Kyrgyzstan, click on [ID:nLDE64O01A]

Timeline on the new clashes, click on [ID:nLDE65A0LM]

here

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The violence is the worst since Bakiyev was toppled in riots in April. Interim government leader Roza Otunbayeva has accused supports of Bakiyev, who is in exile in Belarus, of stoking ethnic conflict in the former president’s southern base.

Supporters of Bakiyev briefly seized government buildings in the south on May 13, defying central authorities. The Otunbayeva government has only limited control over the south, which is separated from the northern capital Bishkek by mountains.

The latest clashes are the worst ethnic violence since 1990, when then-Kremlin leader Mikhail Gorbachev sent in Soviet troops after hundreds of people were killed in and around Osh.

Kyrgyzstan appealed on Saturday for Russian help in quelling the riots, which the Health Ministry says have killed 80 people — 72 in Osh and eight in Jalalabad — and wounded 1,066.

Russia said it would not send in peacekeepers alone but would discuss the situation on Monday within a Moscow-led security bloc of former Soviet republics known as the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO).

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev was following the situation closely and had discussed it with the leaders of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, the two powers bordering Kyrgyzstan, the Kremlin said.

The United States said it supported “efforts coordinated by the United Nations and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe to facilitate peace and order”, and said it urged its citizens in the country to maintain contact with the U.S. embassy.

REFUGEES

Kyrgyzstan, which won independence with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, has been in turmoil since the revolt that toppled Bakiyev on April 7, kindling fears of civil war.

Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan intertwine in the Fergana Valley. While Uzbeks make up 14.5 percent of the Kyrgyz population, the two groups are roughly equal in the Osh and Jalalabad regions.

Gas has been shut off to Osh and some neighbourhoods are without electricity. Otunbayeva also warned of a humanitarian crisis as food supplies in besieged regions are running out.

Residents of Osh have fled to the nearby border with Uzbekistan. Local media reports said at least 1,000 people, mainly women and children, had made it across the border.

The Uzbek Foreign Ministry has expressed “great concern” about the events in Osh, saying there were “reasons to conclude that such events are organised, managed and provocational”.

Russia offered humanitarian aid and sent in a helicopter with doctors to fly out some of the wounded, the Kremlin said. The European Union said it was sending its special representative for Central Asia, Pierre Morel. (Additional reporting by Olga Dzyubenko in Bishkek, Writing by Robin Paxton)

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Timeline: New clashes in Kyrgyzstan’s south

June 12, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Here is a timeline on Kyrgyzstan in the last five years:

March 21, 2005 – Osh, Kyrgyzstan’s second biggest city, falls to opposition control as protests sweep across the country’s south to demand the resignation of President Askar Akayev.

March 23 – Police violently break up a protest in the capital, Bishkek, and the interior minister says prepared to use force and weapons to restore order.

March 24 – Kyrgyzstan’s opposition declares itself in power after seizing key buildings as Akayev vanishes after protests.

March 25 – Opposition party leader Kurmanbek Bakiyev is named acting president. Akayev confirms reports he has left the country, but says he has not resigned.

March 28 – Kyrgyzstan’s new parliament takes over and confirms Bakiyev as prime minister as well as acting president.

July 10 – Bakiyev wins presidential elections.

November 8, 2006 – Parliament adopts a new constitution reducing the president’s powers. The opposition, which had staged days of protests calling on the president to quit if he would not cede to their demands, hailed the vote as a victory.

February 19, 2009 – Parliament votes to close the only U.S. air base in Central Asia. Washington later agrees to pay $180 million to Kyrgyzstan to keep the base open.

March 17, 2010 – Thousands of Kyrgyz protesters threaten to oust Bakiyev if he fails to accede to their demands within a week, five years after violent protests propelled him to power.

April 3 – Visiting U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon calls on Kyrgyzstan to protect human rights after protesters shout “help us” as he drove to parliament.

April 7 – Bakiyev orders a state of emergency in Bishkek and three other areas after police clash with protesters. He later flees to southern Kyrgyzstan, his traditional power base.

– Some 1,000 people storm the prosecutor-general’s office in the capital.

– Plumes of smoke billow from the White House, the main seat of government, as crowds rampage through the building.

– Opposition activists also take control of state television channel KTR.

April 8 – Opposition leader Roza Otunbayeva says she is taking over the president’s and government’s responsibilities. She says the government has resigned and the opposition is negotiating the resignation of Bakiyev.

– Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin speaks to Otunbayeva effectively recognizing her government.

April 9 – Otunbayeva says she will guarantee the safety of Bakiyev and allow him to leave the country if he resigns.

April 12 – The U.S. welcomes statements from the interim government that it will abide by agreements covering a U.S. air base that supports military operations in Afghanistan.

April 15 – The ousted president Bakiyev leaves Kyrgyzstan for Kazakhstan. At least 85 people are killed in the upheaval.

April 27 – The interim government says it has charged Bakiyev with “mass killing” and has formally prepared an extradition request.

May 4 – Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko says he will not hand over Bakiyev to face charges over the violent upheaval last month.

May 13 – Bakiyev supporters seize control of government buildings in the cities of Osh, Jalalabad and Batken, kidnap the governor of Jalalabad region and try to take control of the area’s main airport in Osh.

May 14 – The interim government says it has regained control across the south after at least two people die in violent clashes with supporters of the ousted president.

May 19 – A state of emergency is declared in Jalalabad after two people die and 74 are injured in clashes between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks in southern Kyrgyzstan.

– Otunbayeva’s government says she will act as president until the end of 2011, after which she will be replaced.

June 11 – At least 17 people are killed and 253 wounded as ethnic conflict flares up in Osh and in the southern region.

– The interim government declares a state of emergency in four southern regions.

(Writing by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit)

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Kyrgyz president formally resigns after turmoil

April 17, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Deposed President Kurmanbek Bakiyev formally resigned in a handwritten letter sent to Kyrgyzstan’s new leaders, officials said on Friday, allaying fears of civil war in the strategic Central Asian country.

Bakiyev fled to neighbouring Kazakhstan on Thursday, ending days of turmoil that disrupted U.S. military flights through a Kyrgyz air base to operations in Afghanistan.

The crisis has underlined rivalries between the United States and Russia for influence in Central Asia, a vast region between China, Afghanistan and the Caspian Sea.

The interim government, led by Roza Otunbayeva, said Bakiyev had faxed his resignation letter overnight from Kazakhstan.

“I tender my resignation in these tragic days as I understand the full scale of my responsibility for the future of the Kyrgyz people,” Bakiyev said in the letter.

Otunbayeva’s chief of staff, Edil Baisalov, later presented the original, written in large, jagged letters, to reporters and said it was delivered to the interim government by Kazakhstan’s ambassador in Bishkek.

Bakiyev’s departure has sharply reduced tensions in the impoverished former Soviet republic after a violent uprising against his five-year rule raised the spectre of civil war.

He has not appeared in public since fleeing. Officials say he is in the Kazakh city of Taraz with his wife and two children. Russian media say he could fly on to Turkey or Latvia.

Taraz, a sleepy town in the southern Kazakh steppe on the Kyrgyz border, overflowed with rumours after Bakiyev’s arrival.

A local security source said Bakiyev had been whisked to a secret location in Taraz and locals saw a motorcade of jeeps without number plates driving out of the airport overnight.

At least 84 people were killed in the uprising last week when a protest against Bakiyev’s rule erupted into a night of gunfire and looting in the Kyrgyz capital. Troops loyal to Bakiyev shot into a crowd of thousands of demonstrators.

Addressing the nation in a live televised statement, Otunbayeva said Bakiyev must stand trial over the events.

“Retribution is unavoidable. Justice will prevail,” she said.

RUSSIA VS U.S.

Otunbayeva said the presidents of the United States, Russia and Kazakhstan — which holds the rotaing chair of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation and Europe — personally had helped mediate in the crisis.

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, speaking in the capital Astana, made no mention of Bakiyev’s whereabouts and urged the new government to restore control over the country.

“The authority is weak on the ground and this is fertile ground for various bandits and criminal gangs,” he said.

“So I wish for the interim government to stabilise the situation in the country first of all and to take power into their hands.”

Russia, which also has an air base in Kyrgyzstan, sought to pressure Bakiyev to evict the United States from its Manas air base, through which 50,000 U.S. troops passed last month.

The new government says it plans to allow Washington to keep the base but has hinted it may review some elements of its work.

Speaking in Brasilia, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who had warned that Kyrgyzstan could become a “second Afghanistan”, said he believed the “negative scenario” had been avoided.

China, the other major power with an interest in Kyrgyzstan, has said little in the week since the uprising in the neighbouring state, but broke its silence on Friday with a foreign ministry statement supporting the new government.

Interim government officials said forces were conducting an operation in southern Kyrgyzstan to round up any Bakiyev allies thought to be hiding in the region. Bakiyev’s defence minister has already been arrested, Otunbayeva said.

Bakiyev had demanded that two of his brothers, accused by the opposition of playing a role in the deaths of his opponents and last week’s violence, should be allowed to leave with him. It is unclear where they are.

(Writing by Maria Golovnina and Robin Paxton; Additional reporting by Olga Dzyubenko in Bishkek, Olzhas Auyezov in Almaty, Dmitry Solovyov in Osh, Ben Blanchard in Beijing and Denis Dyomkin in Brasilia; Editing by Michael Roddy)

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FEATURE – NATO troops in Kyrgyzstan surprised by revolt

April 17, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Exhausted after a five-month stint in Afghanistan, Private Radek Michalak landed at the U.S. air base in Kyrgyzstan on his way home, only to find the country on the brink of civil war.

“I was surprised. It’s a good country, very nice people. I couldn’t believe it,” said Michalak, a private with Polish troops fighting the Taliban alongside other NATO forces.

The Manas air force base, a square mile of heavily guarded space housing about 1,000 servicemen, is just 30 km (19 miles) north of the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek, where a violent revolt toppled the country’s president last week.

At least 84 people died when protests against Kyrgyz leader Kurmanbek Bakiyev erupted into days of violence and chaos in the Kyrgyz capital, prompting the United States to suspend some flights from Manas over security concerns.

The base is a crucial transit point for U.S. and NATO troops travelling in and out of Afghanistan. It is also a launch pad for warplanes conducting refuelling missions over Afghanistan.

Troops and supplies bound for Afghanistan were grounded for several days after the revolt, and even though operations are back to normal now, Washington is concerned the new government’s warm relations with Moscow could affect its five-year lease.

More than a week on, life appeared to go on as usual behind the layers of barbed wire and blast walls surrounding the base.

Wisps of dark clouds, heavy with the threat of rain, hung low over the airstrip as huge KC-135 airborne tankers prepared to take off on a refuelling mission to Afghanistan.

One airman said he watched the events on television like a movie and recalled footage showing armed protesters, their faces wrapped in bandanas, setting fire to government offices.

“There was a lot of craziness, a lot of stuff we had never seen before,” said the airman, who asked not to be named. “But for the most part we are just going about our mission.”

Some U.S. embassy staff and family were temporarily moved to the air base during the upheaval. The centre also introduced restrictions on personnel movement outside the base.

Most servicemen seemed unfazed. At a bar on the base, a group of Polish servicemen was busy discussing the recent death of Polish President Lech Kaczynski in a plane crash in Russia. “I just want to go home,” said one of them.

THORNY ISSUE

An impoverished but strategically placed nation, perched on China’s western border, Kyrgyzstan has long been at the heart of geopolitical rivalry between the United States and Russia, which also has a military base just a few hours’ drive from Manas.

Bakiyev has fled the country and a new Russia-friendly interim government is now in charge. Some members of the interim government have suggested the U.S. lease could be shortened.

Moscow, long unhappy with the presence of U.S. troops in Kyrgyzstan, has warned the Muslim country could become “a second Afghanistan” and threw its weight behind its new leaders.

For now, the interim government, led by Roza Otunbayeva, says it will abide by all agreements covering the base and allow the transit centre lease to be extended automatically for another year this summer.

But the base remains a thorny issue for many Kyrgyz people.

Otunbayeva’s allies have accused the United States of turning a blind eye to allegations of corruption linked to the sale of fuel at the base, saying Bakiyev and his family profited unfairly from such deals.

She also says the United States overlooked human rights violations committed under Bakiyev — such as the deaths of independent journalists and jailing of opposition politicians.

Assistant Secretary of State Robert Blake, who visited Kyrgyzstan this week, said Washington could review fuel contracts to make such deals more transparent.

Yet even local staff working at Manas, which pays wages way above the national monthly average of $120, were bitter.

“My friends were on the square protesting against Bakiyev. I was also there,” said Zhopara, a waitress at the base canteen.

“If the government finds it (the base) harmful for the country, that it brings no benefit to the people, then of course they should close it.”

(Editing by Philippa Fletcher)

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Factbox: Key risks to watch in Kyrgyzstan turmoil

April 16, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – Following last week’s uprising in Kyrgyzstan, the main questions remain whether violence rises and how the United States, Russia and China react to turmoil in a country where all have interests.

World | China | Russia | Kyrgyzstan

The United States leases the Manas airbase to support NATO troops in Afghanistan. Russia also leases a base, while China has a long border with Kyrgyzstan and will be concerned for the growing number of Chinese residents and businesses there.

A Russian official has said Moscow alone should have a base in Kyrgyzstan.

Domestic strains appear to be the main reason for the uprising.

VIOLENCE OR STABILISATION?

Around 80 people were killed in the uprising that forced President Kurmanbek Bakiyev to flee to his southern stronghold, and Bakiyev is now hinting he may attempt to go into exile.

The new leadership, led by former opposition leader Roza Otunbayeva, looks to be in control of the security forces, some of whom fired on opposition demonstrators last week.

The self-proclaimed government at first offered Bakiyev safe passage abroad should he resign but on Monday said it was planning a special operation against him after he warned that any attempt to seize him would lead to bloodshed. It now says it wants to put him on trial.

However, on Tuesday Bakiyev hinted he could leave the country if the interim government guarantee his safety and that of his family.

What to watch:

– Does Bakiyev yield, or does the self-proclaimed government move against him? Does he have sufficient support to attack in Bishkek or control areas in the south where he has his power base and will hold rallies this week? So far, outside powers look to be abandoning him.

– What happens with the security forces? So far, they look to have switched loyalty to the new leadership. Is this the case across the country, particularly in the south? What happens to commanders involved in shooting opposition demonstrators?

– Does looting continue and is it put down? So far, mining businesses and the minority Jewish community have been targeted. Does it target Chinese businesses in the capital, as some previous violence has? If so, how would China react?

– The Ferghana Valley in the south, where Bakiyev has his power base, has been the scene of ethnic violence in the past, and there are some signs that tension surrounding the ethnic Uzbek minority may not be far below the surface.

SUPERPOWER POLITICS

The United States and Russia are at loggerheads, although neither publicly acknowledges this.

Washington’s priority will be keeping its Manas base open while a Russian official with President Dmitry Medvedev’s delegation said last week Moscow wanted it closed.

A senior White House adviser on Russia told reporters in Prague: “This is not some anti-American coup. That we know for sure, and this is not a sponsored-by-the-Russians coup.”

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has denied Russia played a part in the turmoil, but a Kyrgyz opposition leader, Omurbek Takebayev, said: “Russia played its role in ousting Bakiyev.”

So far Russia is the only country to recognize the interim government officially — although Medvedev warns the country is on the brink of civil war.

On Wednesday, a visiting U.S. diplomat said Washington was willing to help the new rulers, putting additional pressure on Bakiyev to go into exile.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin approved a $50 million aid and loan package for Kyrgyzstan hours later.

What to watch:

– How overt is Russian support for the self-proclaimed government, not to mention pressure to close the base? Does Russia offer military support?

– Does the uprising worsen broader Russia-U.S. relations just as Washington hoped they were improving?

– Do other countries — particularly the United States and China — ultimately recognize the self-proclaimed government or continue to support the ousted leadership?

– How does China react? Analysts say it had lent money to the ousted government. Does it shift to the new rulers, perhaps sweetening relations with a new loan, or support Bakiyev tacitly or overtly? Does it make any comment on the U.S. base?

AFGHANISTAN WAR

The United States has cut back flights through Manas, which officials it has been central to the war effort in Afghanistan, allowing round-the-clock combat airlift, airdrop, medical evacuation and refueling.

Pentagon officials say they have other options to Manas, although they are more expensive, and the base is not in itself essential.

U.S. officials say only around 20 percent of their supplies into Afghanistan go by air, with 30 percent transported overland through former Soviet states and 50 percent by road through Pakistan, a route which is vulnerable to attack on both sides of the border.

What to watch:

– What happens to the base? The new rulers talk of shortening of the five-year lease rather than outright immediate U.S. departure. Is it able to operate fully?

– Does the dispute prompt Washington to rethink its strategy of relying heavily on transport through the Russian sphere of influence?

ECONOMY AND INVESTMENT

Kyrgyzstan’s economic problems are seen as a big factor in the uprising. Recent energy tariff increases have been unpopular and many people are angry about alleged government corruption and recent privatization deals. The self-proclaimed government says it badly needs financial aid.

As much as 40 percent of gross domestic product is estimated to come from remittances from Kyrgyz workers in Russia, Russia’s Uralsib says.

Foreign investors are mainly Russian and Chinese, with little Western interest outside the small gold mining sector. Canadian mining company Centerra Gold and London-listed Chaarat Gold Holdings Ltd, both of which operate in the country, have seen their shares fall.

South African gold miner Gold Fields said groups of villagers had seized one of its camps, one of a series of attacks and looting episodes against businesses.

Kyrgyzstan has no significant oil and gas reserves, although Russia’s Gazprom is involved in exploration.

What to watch:

– How long does the crisis last? Analysts say there is already little Western interest in investing, but that buying insurance at present would probably be impossible, potentially prompting delays in any planned ventures. Does looting continue or do the police step in?

– Does Russia or someone else provide financial aid, or does the U.S. agree to pay more for its base?

– Most analysts say the uprising does not mean other central Asian states are less stable, but might investors view events as a sign of heightened regional risk and charge higher premiums for investing in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and elsewhere? (Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)

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President Bakiyev hints could leave Kyrgyzstan

April 15, 2010 By Leave a Comment

TEYYIT, Kyrgyzstan, April 14 (Reuters) – Ousted Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev on Wednesday hinted he could leave the country if the interim government which came to power in an uprising last week guaranteed his safety and that of his family.

Bakiyev’s first public admission that he may have to leave the impoverished Central Asian country comes after the provisional government stripped him of his immunity and threatened to send special forces to arrest him.

Kyrgyzstan’s new rulers have been ratcheting up the pressure on Bakiyev since he fled an uprising in Bishkek to rally thousands of supporters in his stronghold in the south.

“I am not clutching at my armchair and I have not said that I am not going to step down under any circumstances,” Bakiyev told reporters in his village.

“What I said is, that if the issues of my personal safety and the safety of my family members are resolved … and if there is stability in Kyrgyzstan, then I am ready to consider this question,” he said.

“To argue that the president of Kyrgyzstan would not under any circumstances step down and that he would not leave the country is not the way the question should be posed,” he said.

Bakiyev’s sharp change of tone — after days of defiance and veiled threats of conflict — could open up a path out of the turmoil which has disrupted flights out of a U.S. air base in Kyrgyzstan that is central for fighting the war in Afghanistan.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Robert Blake visited Bishkek on Wednesday to meet the new leaders of the interim government after a U.S. official said Manas would not be used for sending troops to Afghanistan in the near term.

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EXILE?

The turmoil in Kyrgyzstan has raised fears of ethnic strife between Uzbeks and Kyrgyz, who clashed in the ethnically mixed region of Osh as the Soviet Union crumbled, killing at least 300 people and wounding thousands more before Moscow sent in troops to impose order.

At least 2,000 ethnic Uzbeks attended a rally on the central square in Jalalabad on Wednesday to protest against Bakiyev. Later, about 1,000 Kyrgyz Bakiyev supporters rallied at the same square.

Bakiyev’s tentative offer of resignation and exile was conditional on guarantees of safety for himself and his family, something the government may find hard to do since one of Bakiyev’s brothers has admitted to giving the order to fire into crowds of protesters on April 7.

At least 82 people were killed in those clashes, the deadliest in Central Asia for five years. Bakiyev’s brother, presidential bodyguard chief Dzhanibek Bakiyev, has admitted to giving the order to shoot into the crowds during the uprising.

Bakiyev said his two sons, Marat and Maxim, were abroad and would not return.

“The interim government is not likely to grant immunity to all of Bakiyev’s family members,” Eurasia Group analyst Ana Jelenkovic said in a research note. “Bakiyev may not accept immunity for only himself at this time.

“His presence in the country will hinder the interim government from establishing control in that particular region and tension could easily spike again,” she said. (Writing by Guy Faulconbridge)

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Bakiyev aide says ordered fire at Kyrgyz protesters

April 12, 2010 By Leave a Comment

MOSCOW, April 11 (Reuters) – Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev’s security chief said on Sunday he and not the ousted leader ordered guards to shoot at protesters during clashes last week in which 81 were killed, Russian news agency RIA reported.

Government troops opened fire on a crowd of more than 5,000 protesters in the capital Bishkek in the clashes that ended Bakiyev’s five years of rule and forced him into exile in the south of the Central Asian country.

Bakiyev on Sunday told Reuters he did not order his guards to shoot, and called for an international commission to investigate.

But his brother, presidential bodyguard chief Dzhanibek Bakiyev, said on Sunday that he had ordered guards to shoot at armed protesters and towards the legs of people throwing stones.

“I gave the order to shoot at those with weapons,” Dzhanibek Bakiyev told RIA in an interview in Kyrgyzstan’s Jalalabad region, where the president is in hiding.

“I said over the radio that if anyone is approaching with weapons, to open fire in return,” he said.

“We tried not to shoot at those without weapons. When they went beyond the limit, when they started to throw stones and Molotov cocktails and threaten the lives of our staff, we opened fire towards their legs,” he said.

Witnesses said many protesters were shot dead by government forces. Other protesters, armed with weapons seized from Bakiyev’s security forces, fought back, and witnesses said some people may have been killed in the ensuing crossfire. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

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(Writing by Conor Humphries; Editing by Michael Roddy)

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Bakiyev aide says ordered fire at Kyrgyz protesters

April 12, 2010 By Leave a Comment

MOSCOW, April 11 (Reuters) – Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev’s security chief said on Sunday he and not the ousted leader ordered guards to shoot at protesters during clashes last week in which 81 were killed, Russian news agency RIA reported.

Government troops opened fire on a crowd of more than 5,000 protesters in the capital Bishkek in the clashes that ended Bakiyev’s five years of rule and forced him into exile in the south of the Central Asian country.

Bakiyev on Sunday told Reuters he did not order his guards to shoot, and called for an international commission to investigate.

But his brother, presidential bodyguard chief Dzhanibek Bakiyev, said on Sunday that he had ordered guards to shoot at armed protesters and towards the legs of people throwing stones.

“I gave the order to shoot at those with weapons,” Dzhanibek Bakiyev told RIA in an interview in Kyrgyzstan’s Jalalabad region, where the president is in hiding.

“I said over the radio that if anyone is approaching with weapons, to open fire in return,” he said.

“We tried not to shoot at those without weapons. When they went beyond the limit, when they started to throw stones and Molotov cocktails and threaten the lives of our staff, we opened fire towards their legs,” he said.

Witnesses said many protesters were shot dead by government forces. Other protesters, armed with weapons seized from Bakiyev’s security forces, fought back, and witnesses said some people may have been killed in the ensuing crossfire. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

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(Writing by Conor Humphries; Editing by Michael Roddy)

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Kyrgyzstan interim chief mulls Bakiyev arrest

April 12, 2010 By Leave a Comment

* Otunbayeva says president should face trial

* Says interim government will not use force

* Cannot guarantee Bakiyev’s safety from those after revenge

(Adds details, quotes, background)

By Maria Golovnina

BISHKEK, April 11 (Reuters) – Kyrgyzstan’s provisional government is considering arresting the country’s president to put him on trial for the deaths of 81 people in the uprising that ousted his government, the interim leader said on Sunday.

The April 7 uprising forced President Kurmanbek Bakiyev to retreat to his stronghold in the south of the country, creating a stand-off with a self-proclaimed government in the capital Bishkek led by Roza Otunbayeva.

“Bakiyev has to understand that he is stuck in a deadlock,” Otunbayeva told Reuters in an interview. “When he is arrested then … it will be possible to carry out an investigation and question him within the framework of law.”

She added: “What he did calls for a serious trial”.

She said her government could not vouch for Bakiyev’s security against those seeking revenge following the violence.

“To be honest we can hardly restrain those who are ready to rush there (Bakiyev’s stronghold) with rifles,” she said.

“Everyone among those killed has relatives and friends. There are people who want revenge. It’s a very sensitive situation. You must understand that we won’t be able guarantee his security ourselves.”

At least 81 people were killed when troops loyal to Bakiyev shot into crowds of opposition protesters last Wednesday during the uprising that forced him to flee the capital.

She said her team was not in talks with Bakiyev and expected him to voluntarily surrender power to the interim government.

Prosecutors loyal to the new government have already opened a criminal case against two of Bakiyev’s brothers and his son.

Otunbayeva said, however, that her government would not use force against Bakiyev.

“We don’t support using force. The arrest warrant for his relatives and accomplices has already been issued,” she said. “As for him (Bakiyev), the range of our possibilities is also becoming increasingly narrow.” (Writing by Maria Golovnina, editing by Robin Paxton and Simon Cameron-Moore)

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INTERVIEW-Kyrgyz president says will not resign

April 12, 2010 By Leave a Comment

JALALABAD REGION, Kyrgyzstan, April 11 (Reuters) – Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev told Reuters on Sunday he would not resign and that any attempt to kill him would “drown Kyrgyzstan in blood”.

Bakiyev, speaking inside a tent in an undisclosed location in his home region of Jalalabad, said he was prepared to talk to the new, self-proclaimed government of Kyrgyzstan but did not recognise its legitimacy.

He called for United Nations peacekeeping forces to guarantee peace in the Central Asian republic after his government was overthrown, and denied that he had ordered troops to fire on protesters in the capital Bishkek on April 7. (Reporting by Dmitry Solovyov, writing by Robin Paxton)

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Kyrgyz interim govt denies talks with Bakiyev

April 12, 2010 By Leave a Comment

* Bakiyev in hiding in south, wants talks on his future

* New rulers say will honour accord on U.S. base (Repeats with clearer headline)

By Maria Golovnina

BISHKEK, April 11 (Reuters) – Kygryzstan’s interim government said on Sunday it was not holding talks with the Central Asian state’s ousted president and would use force if he tried to undermine it, one of its leaders told Reuters.

President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, hiding in his southern stronghold since last week’s violent uprising, has offered to negotiate but no meeting has taken place, Omurbek Tekebayev, a former opposition leader who is now in charge of constitutional matters, told Reuters by telephone on Sunday.

“We are not holding talks … Bakiyev must resign and announce his decision to the people,” Tekebayev said.

An envoy from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe said on Saturday that the provisional government had held talks with Bakiyev on ways to end the crisis.

Bakiyev told Russian Newsweek magazine he was prepared to resign but needed to discuss his future with his opponents, who have offered him safe passage if he steps down.

Tekebayev said on Sunday: “If he tries to destabilise the situation we will use force to contain him. If he just sits there quietly then we will not use force.” ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

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Though relative calm has returned, the interim government says Bakiyev’s supporters continue to stoke violence in the country of 5.3 million, a third of whom live below the poverty line.

The United States, which stopped all military flights to Afghanistan via its crucial air base in Kyrgyzstan on Saturday, has urged restraint.

Interim leader Roza Otunbayeva told U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton by phone on Saturday she would honour the previous government’s agreements on the Manas base, Clinton’s spokesman said in a statement.

The interim government had previously suggested it might align itself more closely with Russia, which regards Kyrgyzstan as being in its sphere of influence, and shorten the U.S. lease.

“She (Clinton) expressed hope that stability returns to Kyrgyzstan soon and condemned the shootings against civilians,” added Tekebayev.

At least 78 people were killed when troops loyal to Bakiyev fired into crowds of thousands of protesters on Wednesday in the capital Bishkek. Mourners at funerals on the outskirts of Bishkek last week showed little sympathy for Bakiyev. (Writing by Amie Ferris-Rotman, editing by Tim Pearce)

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Russia ‘not involved’ in Kyrgyzstan unrest

April 12, 2010 By Leave a Comment

The leader of Kyrgyzstan’s self-declared interim government has denied that Russia was involved in the unrest which drove the President Kurmanbek Bakiyev from power.

Roza Otunbayeva was speaking after attending a memorial service for some of those killed in the uprising on Wednesday.

“I don’t see any grounds for such accusation that Russia has interfered in internal affairs of Kyrgyzstan and fitted opposition financially or other way to come to this conflict,” she said.

Health officials now say that 79 people died in the violence.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has spoken by phone with Ms Otunbayeva and urged her to renew her country’s path to democracy.

The two also discussed the US base at Manas airport in Kyrgyzstan, which is a key transport hub for US-led operations against the Taliban in Afghanistan.

With the overall security situation still unclear, the United States has suspended troop flights from the air base.

Asked about the future of the air base, Ms Otunbayeva said the country would keep to its commitments.

Mr Bakiyev was forced to flee the capital Bishkek amid a bloody uprising last week, but insists he will not resign.

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