 BISHKEK - Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev vowed on Wednesday to use force to prevent any attempt to unseat him, despite pressure from Washington to avoid fresh violence in his Central Asian state.
| Most heads of state/government will use force to stop a coup attempt. Bakiyev apparently felt like he had to state the obvious. Wonder why? |
Kyrgyzstan’s opposition is gearing up for a countrywide protest on Saturday against Bakiyev, who came to power in a revolution last year and who it accuses of backtracking on his promises to bring stability and democracy. “If there is an attempt to seize the White House (seat of government) ... then it will be all the tougher for them, very tough,” Bakiyev told reporters.
“Law enforcers are capable of being severe. People run the risk of injury, of ending up in a wheelchair. ... But if the protest is peaceful and lawful, then no problem.”
Unlike peaceful demonstrations in Ukraine and Georgia, protests against a flawed election in Kyrgyzstan turned violent last year and led to long-serving leader Askar Akayev fleeing to Russia as a mob ransacked his office.
Since the overthrow, Kyrgyzstan has been plagued by crime and instability. Bakiyev, elected in July by a landslide, has been accused by opponents of doing too little to restore law and order. The new Kyrgyz opposition, spearheaded by Omurbek Tekebayev, a former speaker of parliament, says it will gather tens of thousands of people in the capital Bishkek and other big cities and set up tent cities to express their discontent.
The United States has called for restraint ahead of the rally, saying Kyrgyzstan should pursue peaceful methods to solve its problems. “The US government shares the concern of many citizens of the Kyrgyz Republic about rumours of potential violence in connection with public demonstrations on April 29 in Kyrgyzstan,” the US embassy said in a statement. “The United States ... calls upon both pro-government and opposition groups to refrain from the threat or use of force during these demonstrations.”
| Peaceful restraint being an alien concept in this part of the world ... |
Bakiyev has blamed certain “foreign forces” of stoking unrest in his impoverished country and threatened to shut down a US military base set up in 2001 during the war in Afghanistan.
| Yup, always dem danged furriners causing trouble ... |
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