Support for Kyrgyzstan Grows, but Nation Still Unstable

Kyrgyz interim leader Roza Otunbayeva gives a speech during mass burials of the victims at the Ata-Beyit memorial complex on the outskirts of Bishkek on April 10. Some 7,000 people gathered in a sea of flowers at a cemetery on the edge of the capital for Saturday's mass burials, mourning 79 people who died in the uprising during which the government opened fire on protesters. (Vyacheslav Oseledkooo/AFP/Getty Images)

After last week’s state coup, the second in five years in the post-Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan, the domestic situation remains uncertain, but the country’s relationships appear to be getting better.

The United States seems to have changed its initially negative attitude toward the Kyrgyz coup. U.S. officials are apparently ready to work with the current, self-proclaimed government to restore political stability and to protect American strategic military operations in Afghanistan.

“We are deeply committed to our continued partnership with Kyrgyzstan for the benefit of the Kyrgyz people and look forward to continuing to support the economic and democratic development of Kyrgyzstan,” said an American Embassy statement on Sunday. Washington also agreed to deliver humanitarian aid in the Central Asian country.

The White House had feared that the political shift might hinder extending a strategic agreement, which allows the United States to rent an air base at the Kyrgyzstan national airport in Manas. The base serves as an important transit center for troops and warplanes going to Afghanistan.

Deposed Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev said last year that he would close the base, coinciding with a Russian statement to invest the money in the republic’s hydraulic power industry. Bishkek later agreed to allow the U.S. base to stay in exchange for higher rent.

According to the U.S. State Department, the normal functioning at the base resumed on April 9.

“It’s a valuable transit center to us. It’s central to our efforts to support operations in Afghanistan that have benefits to the region, including to Kyrgyzstan,” said Philip J. Crowley, assistant secretary, said in a statement.

Russia also appeared to be satisfied with the regime change in Kyrgyzstan, a country that has been an arena of struggle between the United States, Russia, and China. Russian leaders compete with the other two for strategic energy resources and transit routes.

“Destabilization in the Kyrgyz Republic brings the same thing into other regions,” said Igor Semivolos, the director of the Center for Middle East studies in Ukraine.

Some analysts say that Russia is behind the national coup in the country, but others rejects this hypothesis, countering that Kyrgyzstan is now in great financial need, so it is welcoming financial support from both Russia and the United States. Both countries have military bases there.

Discontent

After massive protests last week against President Bakiyev—with violent clashes leaving at least 80 dead and hundreds injured—the country fell under the control of an interim government.

Deposed President Bakiyev, who had promised democratic development, had his presidency ended the same way he obtained it in 2005, through a coup. He was condemned by the opposition for soaring utility prices, imposing media restrictions, and for concentrating power into his own hands.

When the opposition took over the main state buildings, Bakiyev fled to the south and is now in his native city of Jalal-Abad. He still considers himself to be President.

The head of the interim government, Roza Otunbayeva, wants Bakiyev to resign and leave the country safely. If not, Otunbayeva says, the new powers will use force to get him out. Bakiyev’s detractors hold him responsible for the deaths of then-opposition protesters.

Bakiyev fears that new clashes may still erupt and has proposed that an international committee be established to investigate last week’s crimes.

“The police are paralyzed, the military is so-so. If, God forbid, some hotbed appears, we won’t manage to stop via our own efforts. It is necessary that U.N. peacekeepers be deployed in Kyrgyzstan today,” the state news agency RIA Novosti quoted Bakiyev as saying.

There are some fears that if the conflict is not dealt with quickly, the country may sink into permanent civil war. Analysts say that Kyrgyzstan is a strongly clan-based society and that many of Bakiyev’s past supporters are angry at his politics.

“These groups do not want to let the country get stuck in a deep civil war,” said Semivolos.

Challenges for the New Government

Ravshan Djeyenbekov, former privatization minister, says that most people in the country live below the poverty line.

“Most people await mastery from a new government,” he wrote in an e-mail.

He thinks that the next months will be decisive for the new authorities, and if they cannot meet the people’s demands, the clashes seen recently might erupt again.

“The first thing we have to solve is the 50 percent state budget deficit. The second one is to investigate the use of guns against protesters, and [other] notorious crimes committed by the former authorities during their governance—and punish them. The third thing is, what we have to restore is all rights, including freedom of speech, human rights, and provide free competition in politics and economy.”

”If a new government can solve these ... very important problems, we can keep stability in the country,” he remarked.