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| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| Kyrgyz opposition says running government |
| 2010-04-09 |
| [Al Arabiya Latest] Kyrgyzstan's opposition said on Thursday it has taken over the government of the impoverished Central Asian state after at least 65 people were killed in violent protests that forced the president to flee the capital. Opposition leader Roza Otunbayeva demanded the resignation of President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, whom she helped bring to power five years ago, and told Reuters she would run an interim government for six months. "We have a caretaker government now in place, and I am the head of it," Otunbayeva said. "It will remain in place for half a year, during which we will draft the constitution and create conditions for free and fair (presidential) elections." "Hard changes are upon us, authority has passed into the people's hands, and in some places it was done by force," Otunbayeva said in a radio broadcast. "We ask you not to give in to provocations, or to destroy and loot the property of ordinary citizens. Some of us were killed and wounded, and we must do everything in our power to help them," Otunbayeva added. A health ministry official told AFP Thursday that a total of 65 people had been killed in the riots. Opposition leader Omurbek Tekebayev put the death toll at more than 100. Opposition protesters seized the presidential administration Wednesday night and announced on state radio that they had formed a provisional government with Otunbayeva at its head. Bakiyev left Bishkek, where demonstrators torched the prosecutor-general's office and tried to smash trucks into government buildings, and flew to the southern city of Osh, his traditional power base in a nation split by clan rivalries. Security has been tightened in and around Osh ahead of a rally planned for later this morning. It was unclear whether the rally was being organized by supporters or opponents of Bakiyev. Many cars and shops were ablaze in central Bishkek and about 1,000 people remained outside the government building whose seventh, so-called presidential, floor was blackened by fire. Looting could be seen everywhere, with people running in the streets carrying computers and office equipment. The violent unrest, which spread to Bishkek on Wednesday a day after protests in a provincial town, was sparked by growing discontent over corruption and rising prices in a nation where a third of the 5.3 million population live below the poverty line. The United States has a military air base supporting troops in Afghanistan in the Kyrgyz city of Manas and is a major donor to Kyrgyzstan, along with China and Russia, which also has military base in the former Soviet state. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said operations at the Manas base -- visited by U.S. Central Command chief General David Petraeus last month -- appeared unaffected. "It's an important facility connected to our Afghan operations and it's functioning normally," he said. Bakiyev came to power in the 2005 "Tulip Revolution" protests, led jointly by Otunbayeva, which ousted Kyrgyzstan's first post-Soviet president, Askar Akayev. She briefly served as acting foreign minister before falling out with Bakiyev. Spokesmen for the president were not available for comment. A senior U.S. State Department official said Bakiyev's fate was unclear. Asked whether the president was still in power, the official said on condition of anonymity: "The situation is unclear. We are in touch with both government officials and the opposition encouraging resolution according to the rule of law." |
| Posted by:Fred |