Opposition leaders declared they had seized power in
Kyrgyzstan on Wednesday,
taking control of security headquarters, a state TV channel and other
government buildings
after clashes between police and protesters left dozens dead in this
Central Asian nation that houses a key
U.S. air base.
President
Kurmanbek Bakiyev, who came to power in a similar popular
uprising five years ago, was said to have fled to the southern city of
Osh, and it was difficult to gauge how much of the impoverished,
mountainous country the opposition controlled.
"The security service and the Interior Ministry ...
all of them are already under the management of new people," Rosa
Otunbayeva, a former foreign minister who the opposition leaders said
would head the interim government, told the Russian-language Mir TV
channel.
The opposition has called for the closure of the U.S.
air base in Manas outside the capital of
Bishkek that serves as a key transit point
for supplies essential to the war in nearby
Afghanistan.
A senior
U.S. military official says some flights
were briefly diverted at the base, but as far as military officials in
Washington know, the base was never closed. Scheduled troop movements in
and out of Afghanistan were not affected. The official spoke on
condition of anonymity because base operations are sensitive.
During the day, protesters who were called into the
streets by
opposition
parties stormed government buildings in Bishkek and battled with
police amid volleys of tear gas. Groups of elite officers then opened
fire with live ammunition.
The Health Ministry said 40 people died and more than
400 were wounded. Opposition activist Toktoim Umetaliyeva said at least
100 people were killed by police gunfire.
Crowds of demonstrators took control of the state TV
building and looted it, then marched toward the Interior Ministry,
according to Associated Press reporters on the scene, before changing
direction and attacking a national
security building nearby. They were repelled
by security forces loyal to Bakiyev.
After nightfall, the opposition and its supporters
appeared to gain the upper hand. An AP reporter saw opposition leader
Keneshbek Duishebayev sitting in the office of the chief of the
National Security Agency,
Kyrgyzstan's successor to the Soviet KGB. Duishebayev issued orders on
the phone to people he said were security agents, and he also gave
orders to a uniformed special forces commando.
Duishebayev, the former
interior minister, told the AP that "we
have created units to restore order" on the streets. Many of the
opposition leaders were once allies of Bakiyev, in some cases former
ministers or diplomats.
Bakiyev may have fled to Osh, the country's
second-largest city, where he has a home, Duishebayev said.
Since coming to power in 2005 amid
street protests known as
the
Tulip Revolution,
Bakiyev had ensured a measure of stability in the country of 5 million
people, but the opposition says he has done so at the expense of
democratic standards while enriching himself and his family. He gave his
relatives, including his son, top government and economic posts and
faced the same accusations of corruption and cronyism that led to the
ouster of his predecessor,
Askar
Akayev.
In the past two years, authorities have clamped down
on the media, and opposition activists say they have routinely been
subjected to physical intimidation and targeted by politically motivated
criminal investigations.
Like its neighbors
Uzbekistan and
Tajikistan,
Kyrgyzstan has remained impoverished since
the 1991
collapse of the
Soviet Union and has a history of stifling democratic
institutions and human rights.
Kyrgyzstan is a predominantly Muslim country, but
just as in Soviet times, it has remained secular. There has been little
fear of the spread of
Islamic
fundamentalism as in other mostly Muslim regions of the former
Soviet Union.
Russian
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin denied any involvement in the
uprising.
"Russian officials have absolutely nothing to do with
this," he said in Smolensk in response to a journalist's question.
"Personally, these events caught me completely by surprise."
He also criticized Bakiyev's government for repeating
Akayev's mistakes.
"When President Bakiyev came to power, he was very harshly critical of
the fact that the relatives of the deposed President Akayev had taken
positions throughout Kyrgyzstan's economy. I have the impression that
Mr. Bakiyev is stepping on these same rakes."
The anti-government forces were in disarray until recent widespread
anger over the 200 percent increase in electric and heating bills
unified them and galvanized support. Many of Wednesday's protesters were
men from poor villages, including some who had come to the capital to
live and work on construction sites.
Already struggling, they were outraged by the high cost of energy and
were easily stirred up by opposition claims of official corruption.
In Washington, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said the U.S.
deplored the violence and urged all to respect the rule of law.
"We identify with the concerns that the people of Kyrgyzstan have about
their future," but those concerns should be dealt with peacefully,
Crowley said, adding that the Manas base was operating normally.
Opposition leaders have said they want the base closed because it could
put their country at risk if the United States becomes involved in a
military conflict with
Iran.
Closing it would also please
Russia, which has opposed the basing of
U.S. troops on former Soviet turf.
The United States began using Manas in 2001, two months after the
terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, and the base has become
essential for transportation, refueling and supply for U.S.-led military
operations in
Afghanistan.
In 2009, Kyrgyzstan said U.S. forces would have to leave Manas, citing
improving security conditions in Afghanistan and dissatisfaction over
commercial terms for the base. That eviction announcement came shortly
after Russia agreed to grant Kyrgyzstan more than $2 billion in aid and
loans, and U.S. officials suggested the eviction decision hinged on
Moscow's aid.
The government later reversed its stance and agreed to a revised
one-year deal giving U.S. troops rights to use the facility. Under the
new lease, the rent increased to $60 million a year, from $17 million.
In addition to the annual rent, the U.S. also will allocate $37 million
to build new aircraft parking slots and storage areas, plus $30 million
for new navigation systems. Washington has also committed to giving
Kyrgyzstan $51.5 million to combat drug trafficking and terrorism and
promote economic development.
The unrest began Tuesday in the western city of Talas, where
demonstrators stormed a
government
office and held a governor hostage.
The opposition called nationwide protests for the next day and police in
Bishkek at first used
rubber
bullets, tear gas,
water cannons and concussion grenades to
try to control crowds of young men in black.
Police often appeared outnumbered and overwhelmed, sometimes retreating
when faced with protesters — including many armed with rocks and others
who appeared to be carrying automatic weapons as they marched.
The youths beat up police and seized their arms, trucks and
armored personnel carriers.
Some protesters then tried to use an APC to ram the gates of the
government headquarters, known as the
White House. About a half-dozen young
protesters shot automatic weapons into the air from the square in front
of the building.
"We don't want this rotten power!" protester Makhsat Talbadyev said, as
he and others waved
opposition
party flags and chanted: "Bakiyev out!"
Some 200 elite police then began firing, pushing the crowd back.
Protesters set fire to the prosecutor general's office and a giant plume
of black smoke billowed into the sky.
At one point, police fled across the square from a large group of
stone-throwing demonstrators. In another street, some police took refuge
behind their shields as one of their colleagues lay unconscious at
their feet, his face smeared with blood.
In another area, two policemen, their faces stained with blood, tried to
escape as a protester aimed kicks in their direction.
Groups of protesters then set out across Bishkek, attacking more
government buildings.
An AP reporter saw dozens of wounded demonstrators lining the corridors
of one of Bishkek's main hospitals, a block away from the main square,
where doctors were overwhelmed with the flood of patients. Weeping
nurses slumped over the dead, doctors shouted at each other and the
floors were covered in blood.
Opposition activist Shamil Murat told the AP that Interior Minister
Moldomusa Kongatiyev had been beaten to death by a mob in Talas. Later,
the
Fergana.ru Web site
reported that Kongatiyev was badly beaten but had not died, saying its
own reporter had witnessed the beating.
Unrest also broke out for a second day in Talas and spread to the
southern city of Naryn.
Another 10,000 protesters stormed
police headquarters in Talas. The
protesters beat up Kongatiyev and forced him to telephone his
subordinates in Bishkek and call off the crackdown on protesters, a
correspondent for the local affiliate of U.S.-funded Radio Free
Europe/Radio Liberty said.
Some 5,000 protesters seized Naryn's
regional administration building and
installed a new governor, opposition activist Adilet Eshenov said. At
least four people were wounded in clashes, including the regional police
chief, he said.
In the eastern region of Issyk-Kul, protesters seized the regional
administration building and declared they installed their governor, the
Ata-Meken
opposition
party said on its Web site.
David Mikael Taclino
Inyu Web Development and Design
Creative Writer
