Opposition joins police on patrol in Kyrgyzstan
The Associated Press Wednesday, March 23, 2005
BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan Opposition supporters and police officers formed joint patrols to keep order in several southern Kyrgyz cities Tuesday, while President Askar Akayev pledged he would not impose a state of emergency amid mounting pressure for his resignation over allegations of fraud in recent parliamentary elections. A day after stone-throwing mobs stormed government buildings to underline their demand that Akayev resign, both sides in the nation's tense standoff appeared intent on re-establishing calm. Politics in Kyrgyzstan are heavily clan-based, and Akayev, a northerner, has strong support there. If the fractured opposition in the south coalesced enough to carry protests across the mountain range bisecting the country and toward Bishkek, the capital in the north, tensions could increase significantly in a strategically important country where both the United States and Russia have military bases. Protests against Akayev began after the first round of parliamentary elections on Feb. 27 and swelled after the March 13 runoffs that the opposition and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said were seriously flawed. Akayev, 60, is prohibited from seeking another term, but the opposition has accused him of manipulating the parliamentary vote to gain a compliant Legislature that would amend the Constitution to allow a third term. Akayev has denied that. However, the new Parliament convened Tuesday, indicating that Akayev was unwilling to give credence to complaints that the election was unfair. In an address to Parliament a day after protesters took control of Osh, the country's second-largest city, and several other towns, Akayev said the protesters' actions were "a direct threat to the people and the government. The opposition is directed and funded from outside." Akayev previously has alleged that opposition forces were getting international funding, an echo of allegations that uprisings in Ukraine and Georgia in 2003 and 2004 were Western-backed. In a later address to the nation, Akayev said talks with the opposition were possible, but "the mandatory requirement before we can start talks with those who have organized all illegal actions is restoration of legal order and the work of government agencies." Earlier in the day, his spokesman, Abdil Seghizbayev, described the protests as part of a criminal attempt to seize power. "Criminal elements connected to the drug mafia are in complete control of the situation in Osh and Jalal Abad and are struggling to gain power," Seghizbayev said, referring to two southern towns that have seen riots. Osh is a major transit point for drugs from Afghanistan and Tajikistan. The United States operates a military base, used for refueling planes in Afghanistan, outside Bishkek, about 300 kilometers, or 200 miles, north of Osh. The Russian base, named Kant, is 20 kilometers east of Bishkek. Akayev was long regarded as the most reform-minded leader in ex-Soviet Central Asia, but in recent years he has shown an increasingly authoritarian bent. In 2002, his reputation was tarnished after the police killed six demonstrators who were protesting the arrest of an opposition lawmaker. Russia has condemned the recent protests, with its Foreign Ministry saying "extremist forces" must not be allowed to undermine the Kyrgyz government. The police and opposition representatives began joint patrols in Osh on Monday night, said Colonel Ermekbai Kochorov, chief of the financial department of the city's police. Despite speculation that he would introduce emergency rule, Akayev said he was "fully committed to not taking such measures." Seghizbayev also claimed protesters had seized weapons when they stormed a police station in Jalal Abad. "The only wise move for the government at the moment is not to enter a confrontation," he said. In Bishkek, several busloads of Interior Ministry troops and riot police were guarding the main square, next to the president's office and other government buildings, where several hundred pro-Akayev demonstrators gathered. See more of the world that matters - click here for home delivery of the International Herald Tribune. < < Back to Start of Article Copyright © 2005 The International Herald Tribune | www.iht.com |