Calm returns to Kyrgyzstan after uprising
By DPA, IANSThursday, April 8, 2010
BISHKEK/MOSCOW/LONDON - Calm returned to the capital of Kyrgyzstan Friday after an uprising toppled President Kurmanbek Bakiyev and led to an interim government installed in his place.
Troops, police and civil militias were out on the streets of Bishkek and had restored order there, the Kyrgyzstan news agency quoted the new administration as saying.
Roza Otunbayeva, the former foreign minister appointed by the opposition to head the new government, warned of “violent provocations” from supporters of the ousted president.
Bakiyev, 60, offered to hold talks with what he called the “temporary government” but said he will not resign, according to a telephone interview with the Russian-language service of the BBC.
Bakiyev insisted he was still the legitimate president and condemned the uprising, saying the new interim government was “completely incapable” of imposing order.
The ousted leader told the London-based broadcaster he was in southern part of the Central Asian nation, but would not disclose his exact location.
Prosecutors issued an arrest warrant for the brother of the president, Shanysh Bakiyev, in connection with the 76 people who died since the protests began Tuesday. Another 1,500 were injured. Shanysh Bakiyev was in charge of national security.
On Thursday night fresh violence left dozens injured. Opposition groups have declared a two-day mourning period for the victims, starting Friday.
The head of the secret service blamed the Bakiyev clan for unleashing looters and violent youth groups on the streets in an attempt to destabilise the situation.
The troublemakers were warded off with tear gas and warning shots, according to the interior ministry.
Analysts warned of a power struggle between the pro-Russian north of Kyrgyzstan and the conservative south, which is steeped in Islamic traditions.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) warned that the situation in Kyrgyzstan remained “volatile”.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has already promised support for the former Soviet republic, which hosts a Russian air force base as well as a military base used by the US in Manas.
Kyrgyzstan, which borders the troubled Chinese province of Xinjiang, achieved independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
Meanwhile, a delegation headed by former Kyrgyz presidential candidate Almazbek Atambayak arrived in Moscow Friday for talks on humanitarian aid, the Interfax news agency reported.
An envoy of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) started meeting with Kyrgyzstan’s new leadership to discuss how the regional group could help restore stability and citizen’s rights quickly in the country.
The OSCE said in a statement that the envoy, senior Kazakh legislator Zhanybek Karibzhanov, met with “interim Deputy Foreign Minister” Nurlan Aytmurzaev.
European Union foreign policy director Catherine Ashton is sending her top representative in Central Asia Pierre Morel, to Kyrgyzstan to see how the EU can help stabilise the situation.
