KYRGYZSTAN: Deputy leader of interim government rallies support and plays down unrest in South

Record ID: 212663

  • Title: KYRGYZSTAN: Deputy leader of interim government rallies support and plays down unrest in South
  • Date: 15th May 2010
  • Summary: BISHKEK, KYRGYZSTAN (MAY 14, 2010) (REUTERS) DEPUTY HEAD OF KYRGYZSTAN'S INTERIM GOVERNMENT AND LEADER OF SOCIAL DEMOCRAT PARTY, ALMAZBEK ATAMBAYEV, WALKING WITH BODYGUARDS TOWARDS MICROPHONE CROWD CHEERING (SOUNDBITE) (Kyrgyz) DEPUTY HEAD OF KYRGYZSTAN'S INTERIM GOVERNMENT AND LEADER OF SOCIAL DEMOCRAT PARTY ALMAZBEK ATAMBAYEV, SAYING: "As you know, the situation in Kyrgyzstan is the following: We have ten days to organise a commission [to bring the south back under control] and Rosa Otunbayeva has appointed me to be the head of it. She also made me responsible for the security forces. And indeed, we had traitors amongst us, who helped them [backers of Bakiyev]. Even after we surrounded the village of Tate, they helped him and his family escape." CROWD LISTENING CROWD APPLAUDING MEN LISTENING LEADERS ADDRESSING CROWD ATAMBAYEV STANDING MEN IN CROWD APPLAUDING CROWD LISTENING
  • Embargoed: 30th May 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Kyrgyzstan
  • Country: Kyrgyzstan
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVADNGSHEHKW1ER36Q5QNGSLKNAJ
  • Story Text: The deputy head of Kyrgyzstan's interim government Almazbek Atambayev said on Friday (May 14) that he would head a commission to bring back control in the south of Kyrgyzstan after at least one person was killed in clashes between interim government supporters and backers of ousted President Kurmanbek Bakiyev.
    Underscoring volatility in a nation that hosts U.S. and Russian military air bases, Bakiyev supporters on Thursday seized the government headquarters in all three southern provinces -- Osh, Jalalabad and Batken.
    On Friday, interim authorities said they had regained control in Osh but gunfire erupted as Bakiyev supporters turned aside a crowd trying to take back the Jalalabad headquarters.
    Deputy leader Almazbek Atambayev said interim government head, Rosa Otunbayeva, had appointed him to lead efforts to calm the southern provinces.
    "As you know, the situation in Kyrgyzstan is the following: We have ten days to organise a commission [to bring the south back under control] and Rosa Otunbayeva has appointed me to be the head of it," Atambayev told a group of cheering supporters in the capital Bishkek.
    "She also made me responsible for the security forces. And indeed, we had traitors amongst us, who helped them [backers of Bakiyev]. Even after we surrounded the village of Tate, they helped him and his family escape," he added.
    One person died after surgery for a gunshot wound and at least 37 others were injured, ten of them with gunshot wounds, the Health Ministry said.
    The takeovers in the south, Bakiyev's power base in five years as president, were the biggest challenge yet to the interim government that claimed power following his overthrow.
    Bakiyev fled Kyrgyzstan after the April 7-8 uprising and has taken refuge in Belarus. In April, at least 85 people died in clashes between opposition protesters, some of them armed, and government forces who opened fire on crowds.
    In Osh, interim government supporters marched to the provincial administration building on Friday and took it back after scuffles with opponents, a Reuters witness said.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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