Civil war feared in Kyrgyzstan amid political deadlock - Feature

(WARNING): Article contains propaganda!

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Ulf Mauder

Bishkek/Moscow - Fears of civil war gripped Kyrgyzstan amid a political deadlock on Wednesday, a week after anti-government riots toppled the Central Asian nation's authoritarian president, Kurmanbek Bakiyev, and left more than 80 people dead.

Bakiyev, 60, was in his home village in the south of the country, where he took refuge, and under guard by heavily armed supporters. In the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, interim leader Roza Otunbayeva called on Bakiyev to surrender.

Efforts at international mediation were under way since an attempt to arrest Bakiyev risked sparking another bloodbath.

In view of the many protesters killed and more than 1,600 injured, the Kyrgyz people will not allow Bakiyev and his family to go unpunished, said Otunbayeva, whose government has stripped him of his immunity.

Bakiyev and his brother Zhanysh Bakiyev, who headed the security service, are alleged to have ordered snipers to fire at protesters last Wednesday. The snipers, from an elite police force, are said to have aimed straight at heads from rooftops.

Many Kyrgyz have become disillusioned after a week under Otunbayeva's leadership. On the streets of Bishkek, in blogs and by telephone, people are saying good riddance to Bakiyev but have little hope of things improving with him gone.

There have been increasing complaints that the country's new leaders are more concerned with distributing government posts than improving the lot of the populace. Provisional ministers are already publicly proposing relatives for the jobs.

On the other hand, many people note a sense of freedom they have missed since the 2005 "Tulip Revolution" that ousted Askar Akayev, Bakiyev's predecessor. Kyrgyz news media say that they are now able to work without interference from Bakiyev's secret police.

Bakiyev, ironically, who was responsible for the instruments of repression in Kyrgyzstan and who always shunned contact with independent journalists, has been phoning Western media daily to get out his side of the story.

"I was always one with the people," Bakiyev has insisted in interviews and appearances in his home village. Accused of nepotism, electoral fraud, repression of the political opposition, torture and even political killings, he now sees himself as a victim.

Bakiyev's opponents repeatedly warned him not to let his family pressure him into turning the country into a military dictatorship. The Kyrgyz, many mired deep in poverty, finally gave vent to their anger with mass protests, resulting in a bloodbath.

"I don't fear an investigation of what happened by an international commission," Bakiyev said in Kyrgyzstan's southern Jalalabad region.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) suggests calling in just such a body under the auspices of the European Union or United Nations.

"An investigation by independent observers can be an important steppingstone toward freedom in the region," Andrea Berg, Central Asia researcher for HRW, told the Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Mars Sariyev, a well-known Kyrgyz political scientist, said the new leadership had two weeks at most to establish order in the roiling country.

"If people feel the many deaths were in vain, they'll look for new leaders," he remarked, adding that Bakiyev's fate needed to be resolved soon.

Kyrgyzstan's northern neighbor, authoritarian-ruled Kazakhstan, currently holds the chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and could therefore serve as a peacemaker. It has responded calmly to the unrest across its border.

Uzbekistan, however, a dictatorship and Kyrgyzstan's neighbor to the west, is completely sealing itself off for fear the trouble could spread.

Russian President Dmitri Medvedev, speaking in Washington after attending the nuclear summit meeting called by President Barack Obama, not only warned of possible civil war in Kyrgyzstan. Given the instability in Central Asia and strong terrorist networks in the region, he said, it could also become a second Afghanistan.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/318762,civil-war-feared-in-kyrgyzstan-amid-political-deadlock--feature.html.