Supporters of Ex-Leader Seize Offices in Kyrgyzstan

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http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/14/world/asia/14kyrgyzstan.html

Supporters of Ex-Leader Seize Offices in Kyrgyzstan

By ANDREW E. KRAMER

Published: May 13, 2010

MOSCOW — Opponents of the interim government in Kyrgyzstan stormed

administration buildings in three southern cities on Thursday, forcibly

installed a new governor and seized an airport apparently in an attempt to take

power in the south a month after the country's president was ousted in an

uprising.

After seizing the buildings, the protesters issued a statement demanding the

return to power of the former president, Kurmanbek Bakiyev.

It was the worst turbulence in Kyrgyzstan since the bloody uprising that led to

the overthrow of Mr. Bakiyev last month. He is in exile in Belarus, but he

retains support in his homeland in the south of the country, where discontent

has been rising.

Kyrgyzstan, a landlocked mountainous nation in the heart of Central Asia, hosts

a military base important to the United States' war efforts in Afghanistan.

Russia, which considers Kyrgyzstan within its sphere of influence, has opposed

the base.

A committee that said it represented Mr. Bakiyev's supporters issued a statement

on Thursday in which it claimed to have wide support in the south, news agencies

reported. The committee said the former president's supporters would soon head

north to " confront the interim government " in the capital, Bishkek.

It was not clear whether the military took steps on Thursday to position troops

to block the roads north to the capital. The unrest in the south began with

street protests that led to the storming of the government buildings, following

a now familiar pattern in Kyrgyz politics.

Demonstrators shoved their way into buildings in the cities of Osh, Jalal-Abad

and Batken, the three regional capitals of southern Kyrgyzstan, which is

separated from the capital and the north of the country by a rugged mountain

chain. In Batken, the protesters eventually left the building.

After taking over a government building in Osh, demonstrators escorted the

former governor, Mamasadyk Bakirov, back into his office, which had been

occupied by an appointee of the interim government earlier in the day.

Protesters also seized the Osh airport, an official with the interim government

said.

The interim government had no plans to deploy the army or to evict the

protesters by force, Edil Baisalov, the chief of staff, said in a telephone

interview. " Taking over government buildings has become a popular pastime, " Mr.

Baisalov said.

He characterized the demonstrators as a few hundred relatives of officials in

the former government, and he contended that they posed no threat to the leaders

of the interim government.

Still, the defense minister, Ismail Isakov, was sent to Osh and granted new

powers as a governor general for the three southern districts, Mr. Baisalov

said. Mr. Isakov will try to rally unarmed civilian supporters to clear the

seized buildings, Mr. Baisalov said. The interim government also called for a

national demonstration of support on Friday, in places that included cities in

the south.

The loyalty of troops garrisoned in Osh and police forces in the south has been

in doubt since the uprising. Mr. Baisalov said the government had full control.

In Bishkek, a former interior minister in Mr. Bakiyev's government was put under

house arrest by the interim government, the Interfax news service reported.

After protesters seized government buildings last month in Bishkek, including

the president's office, Mr. Bakiyev fled to the south before going into exile.

During the takeover, 86 people died when police officers and soldiers guarding

the government buildings fired at protesters, some of them also armed.