Affrontements dans le sud du Kyrghistan – mai 2010
Kirghizstan: nouvelles violences dans le sud, un mort, près de 60 blessés
AFP
15 05 2010
BICHKEK — Une personne a été tuée et près de 60 blessées dans des affrontements vendredi dans le sud du Kirghizstan entre les partisans et les opposants du gouvernement intérimaire, plongeant de nouveau dans le chaos ce pays d’Asie centrale un mois après une révolution sanglante.
Des tirs ont retenti des deux côtés et des pierres ont été jetées à Djalal-Abad, bastion du président déchu Kourmanbek Bakiev, au cours d’accrochages auxquels ont participé quelque 5.000 personnes.
A Djalal-Abad, une personne a été tuée et 59 blessées, dont 26 par balles, a indiqué vendredi soir le ministère de la Santé.
Pour sa part, un médecin de l’hôpital régional de Djalal-Abad a déclaré à l’AFP que trois personnes avaient été tuées, tandis qu’une porte-parole du comité de soutien à M. Bakiev, Djanara Moldokoulova, a fait état de huit morts.
Des partisans du président déchu – des femmes pour la plupart – avaient pris jeudi le contrôle des administrations régionales de Djalal-Abad, Och et de Batken, les trois régions du sud du pays.
Vendredi, les partisans du gouvernement intérimaire ont repris le contrôle de l’administration régionale de Djalal-Abad, a indiqué le service de presse du gouvernement.
Mme Moldokoulova a déclaré à l’AFP que quelque 1.500 personnes avaient pris part aux protestations à Djalal-Abad.
A Och, autre grande ville du sud, une bagarre a éclaté entre 400 partisans du gouvernement intérimaire et ceux de M. Bakiev. Le gouvernement intérimaire y a aussi repris vendredi le contrôle de l’administration régionale.
Ces événements surviennent alors que le Kirghizstan a été le théâtre d’une révolution sanglante en avril à Bichkek, la capitale, qui a fait 86 morts.
Les Etats-Unis, qui disposent dans ce pays d’une base aérienne essentielle au déploiement des troupes en Afghanistan, ont fait part de leur « inquiétude » après ce regain de violences.
« L’ambassade des Etats-Unis est inquiète à la suite des informations sur les tirs et autres violences », indique un communiqué, qui appelle les parties en conflit à « ne pas avoir recours à la violence ».
La Russie, qui soutient les autorités intérimaires, dispose elle aussi d’une base militaire dans le cadre de l’Organisation du traité de sécurité collective (ODKB) menée par Moscou.
L’envoyé spécial du Kremlin pour le Kirghizstan Vladimir Rouchaïlo, nommé la veille, s’est rendu vendredi à Bichkek, où il a eu des entretiens avec le chef du gouvernement intérimaire Rosa Otounbaïeva.
« Notre objectif est d’aider le Kirghizstan sous tous les aspects », a déclaré M. Rouchaïlo.
Le secrétaire du Conseil de sécurité russe, Nikolaï Patrouchev, a toutefois assuré devant la presse que la Russie ne « devait pas intervenir » dans les affaires kirghizes.
La chef de la diplomatie européenne, Catherine Ashton, a appelé « tous les acteurs politiques, au sein du gouvernement provisoire comme à l’extérieur », à « tout faire pour calmer la situation et (à) ne pas contribuer à une escalade en organisant des démonstrations de force ».
Le regain de tension est un test pour le nouveau régime, dont l’arrivée au pouvoir avait dès le début suscité la méfiance dans le sud, terre natale de Kourmanbek Bakiev, désormais exilé au Bélarus.
« Les adversaires du nouveau pouvoir ne veulent pas reconnaître que les habitants de toutes les régions sans exception au Kirghizstan ne veulent plus de l’ancien régime corrompu », a déclaré Mme Otounbaïeva dans un communiqué.
Elle a affirmé que les tirs étaient le fait de partisans de M. Bakiev.
Rosa Otounbaïeva a indiqué que plusieurs partisans de M. Bakiev, dont l’ancien chef de l’administration présidentielle, avaient été arrêtés.
Kourmanbek Bakiev avait lui-même été porté au pouvoir en mars 2005 par une révolution qui avait débuté dans le sud avant de remonter sur Bichkek. Mais au cours de sa présidence rocambolesque, il avait renoué avec les dérives du régime autoritaire et clientéliste qu’il avait renversé.
Clashes Erupt In South Kyrgyzstan
rferl.org
May 14, 2010
BISHKEK — Supporters of Kyrgyzstan’s interim government have clashed with supporters of ousted President Kurmanbek Bakiev in the south of the country, where Bakiev loyalists occupied several regional government buildings the previous day.
RFE/RL correspondents say shots were heard as the two groups clashed in the city of Jalal-Abad and several people were wounded, at least one reportedly with gunshot wounds. It was not immediately clear who fired the shots.
Today’s clashes came after Bakiev supporters on May 13 occupied regional government buildings in the southern cities of Osh, Jalal-Abad, and Batken.
Government supporters today regained control of the provincial government headquarters in Osh after scuffles with Bakiev loyalists.
The interim government has accused supporters of Bakiev of trying to stage a coup.
Bakiev, who was ousted in an uprising last month, fled Kyrgyzstan and is now in Belarus.
Clashes in south Kyrgyzstan: reports
AFP
14 05 2010
BISHKEK — Shots rang out Friday as supporters of the interim Kyrgyz government clashed with protestors loyal to ousted president Kurmanbek Bakiyev in the southern cities of Osh and Jalalabad, reports said.
The shots were heard on the main square of the city of Jalalabad where at least one man was seen wounded after being beaten with sticks, the Aki-Press news website and Radio Azattyk reported.
Meanwhile in the main southern city of Osh, hundreds of supporters of both sides clashed, throwing stones and beating one another with sticks, the reports added.
Protestors loyal to Bakiyev on Thursday had peacefully seized regional admistration buildings in main southern cities of Osh and Jalalabad, and also in the town of Batken.
They also occupied the airports in Osh and Jalalabad.
Reports later said the Kyrgyz interim government regained control of regional headquarters in Osh.
Kyrgyz protesters seize regional government office
AP
13 05 2010
BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan — Opponents of Kyrgyzstan’s interim government have taken over a regional government building in the south in a sign of persistent political turbulence in the Central Asian nation.
Peace is gradually returning to Kyrgyzstan more than one month after President Kurmanbek Bakiyev was overthrown amid violent clashes between government troops and demonstrators that left at least 85 people dead.
But supporters of the Bakiyev government have shown signs that they are regrouping in recent days and are holding public protests in favor of officials deposed in the wake of the anti-Bakiyev revolt.
Hundreds of demonstrators gathered Thursday morning in front of the regional government headquarters in the southern city of Osh to demand the return of former Gov. Mamasadyk Bakirov. Eyewitnesses say that after several minor scuffles broke out between interim government supporters and opponents, a crowd of around 500 people barged into the building and installed Bakirov in the governor’s office.
« I represent the legitimate government in Osh, and I was appointed governor on legal grounds, so my return to the workplace is legitimate, » Bakirov told reporters.
Witnesses say police did not intervene and watched the events unfold from around the perimeter of the building.
Acting Osh Gov. Sooronbai Jeenbekov said no attempt was made to impede the crowd’s progress into the government office to avoid an aggressive standoff.
« We are continuing to negotiate with them and explain to them the illegality of their actions, » Jeenbekov was quoted as saying by interim government spokesman Farid Niyazov.
Jeenbekov said the situation would soon be under control.
The provisional government has warned that Bakiyev supporters may provoke disturbances in a bid to unsettle the country, but interim Prime Minister Roza Otunbayeva said Thursday that the authorities are doing everything to avoid that happening.
« There is a danger for the country, but we are doing everything we can to prevent any attempts by Bakiyev’s forces to destabilize the situation in Kyrgyzstan, » Otunbayeva said.
Associated Press writer Peter Leonard in Bishkek contributed to this report.
Unrest grips southern Kyrgyzstan: what next?
reuters
Fri May 14, 2010
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Outbreaks of unrest across southern Kyrgyzstan on Thursday, staged by supporters of ousted President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, appear to be well-organised and may spark chaos in the impoverished Muslim state.
The quick seizure of key government buildings in the turbulent and ethnically divided south by crowds of Bakiyev supporters is a slap in the face of the Central Asian nation’s interim government, whose legitimacy was quickly recognised by regional powers Russia and the United States.
Bakiyev fled the country after losing power during a popular uprising in April, which exploited discontent with government corruption and growing authoritarianism to push him out.
Bakiyev’s native Jalalabad region has always been considered his stronghold in the south, which has a sizeable ethnic Uzbek minority and is much poorer than the depressed north in the country of 5.4 million.
Kyrgyzstan’s ethnic divide spreads along the snow-covered Tien Shan mountain ridges, and analysts have long warned of regional separatism that could split the north and the south.
The scenario of a north-south clash — easy to achieve if the only north-south national motorway is blocked and airports are closed — may give way to the still more dangerous prospect of inter-ethnic carnage in the volatile south.
Many ethnic Kyrgyz in the south still support their fellow countryman Bakiyev, while numerous local Uzbeks living in southern Kyrgyzstan rushed to swear loyalty to the interim government after Bakiyev’s ouster last month.
Osh, the capital of the south and Kyrgyzstan’s second largest city, saw bloody clashes between ethnic Uzbeks and Kyrgyz in 1990 when the Soviet Union was still alive. Hundreds were killed in that massacre — sparked by land disputes — before Moscow brought in troops to separate the warring sides.
Voicing fears of a repeat of these events, an Uzbek imam of a mosque in Bakiyev’s native Jalalabad region told Reuters by telephone on Thursday: « We are not going to bed with an easy heart tonight. We Uzbeks fear the Kyrgyz backing Bakiyev can attack us. The situation is tense indeed. »
HOW MUCH IS THE INTERIM GOVERNMENT IN CONTROL?
Former Soviet diplomat Roza Otunbayeva’s interim government, which has been promised financial assistance by the West and former imperial master Russia, tried to put a brave face on its apparently tenuous control over the three southern regions.
A government official declared that the authorities in the capital Bishkek were in full control of the army, but admitted at the same time that the turmoil could last for « a few weeks ».
It is unclear why police took no action while crowds of Bakiyev supporters stormed regional administration headquarters in the south. It also remains uncertain how loyal Kyrgyz security service officers are. The army is small, poorly equipped and is largely demoralised after the April 7 bloody turmoil in Bishkek when it mostly stayed in the barracks.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR REGIONAL STABILITY ?
Erstwhile Cold War foes Russia and the United States both have military air bases in Kyrgyzstan.
Russia’s base in Kant appeared shortly after Washington opened a much larger operation at Kyrgyzstan’s main civilian airport Manas outside Bishkek. Manas is important in supplying U.S.-led troops fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Some analysts say that if southern Kyrgyzstan, part of the deeply impoverished and overpopulated Ferghana Valley shared with Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, explodes, this may give a rise to purist, militant Islam sponsored by heroin cash.
Human rights bodies blame poverty, widespread corruption and repressive state policies in Central Asia’s largest state Uzbekistan for the rise of popular discontent and the growing appeal of purist Islam in the Ferghana Valley.
The Islamist Movement of Uzbekistan, a close Taliban and al-Qaeda ally, was founded in the valley.
WHAT ABOUT INVESTORS AND ECONOMIC GROWTH?
Kyrgyzstan has so far been mainly bypassed by direct foreign investors and remains heavily reliant on loans from international lenders and grants from donor states. Remittances from its citizens working abroad are also vital, making up as much as 40 percent of its gross domestic product.
The mountainous nation has attracted few major private investors, with Canada’s miner Centerra Gold alone accounting for 7.3 percent of Kyrgyzstan’s GDP, a quarter of its industrial output and a third of all exports last year.
Continued political turmoil can only damage investor confidence further.
Kyrgyzstan’s GDP was expected to expand by about 5.5 percent in 2010, but economists say the growth is from a very low base, and the size of the economy is still far below its Soviet-era level. Wages average some $130 a month.
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