by Nick Paton Walsh
An angry mob stormed the presidential building in Kyrgyzstan yesterday,
prompting President Askar Akayev to flee the country and the opposition to
declare a new interim government.
The sheer number of protesters, many of whom were armed with sticks, stones
and stolen riot shields, forced police to flee the presidential compound
that they were guarding. The building was then ransacked, with protesters
looting clocks, computers and even presidential wine.
The impoverished central Asian country is the third former Soviet Union
state in 17 months to revolt against its leaders after the authorities tried
to fix an election. Both Georgia and Ukraine, also traditional spheres of
Russian influence, have seen popular uprisings unseat authoritarian regimes. . . .
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[The country of 5 million people borders China in an energy-rich region
where Washington and Moscow vie for influence. Both powers have military
bases outside the capital.--Jeremy Lennard, "Kyrgyz
protesters storm government compound," Guardian, March 24, 2005]
[Opposition protesters in Bishkek Kyrgyzstan will hold fresh elections in
June, says the central Asian republic's acting president Kurmanbek
Bakiev.--"New Kyrgyz
leader promises polls ," BBC, March 25, 2005]
Mary Dejevsky, "Revolution
that came too soon starts to fall apart in chaotic Kyrgyzstan," Independent,
March 27, 2005
[Acting President Kurmanbek Bakiyev on Monday endorsed the newly elected
parliament he previously had denounced as the product of ballot-rigging,
while the lawmakers in turn formally named him prime minister.--David
Holley, " Kyrgyzstan's Leader Endorses the Newly
Elected Parliament," Los Angeles Times, March 29, 2005]
[. . . the US has well-known strategic interests in central Asia,
especially in Kyrgyzstan. Freedom House's friendliness to the Islamist
fundamentalist movement Hizb ut-Tahrir will certainly unsettle a Beijing
concerned about Muslim unrest in its western provinces. But perhaps the
clearest message sent by Akayev's overthrow is this: in the new world order
the sudden replacement of party cadres hangs as a permanent threat - or
incentive - over even the most compliant apparatchik.--John Laughland, "The
mythology of people power: The glamour of street protests should not blind
us to the reality of US-backed coups in the former USSR," Guardian,
April 1, 2005]
"Kyrgyz
poll hailed as 'progress'," BBC News, July 11, 2005