Kyrgyz police nab Bakiyev's brother
Source: Agencies |
July 23, 2010, Friday
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POLICE in Kyrgyzstan have detained a brother of deposed president Kurmanbek Bakiyev, authorities said yesterday - the latest effort to solidify control over the country's tense south and dismantle the former leader's entourage.
Hopes for sustained peace were further bolstered when the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe announced it would send an international police force to the Central Asian nation.
Akhmat Bakiyev was captured on Wednesday night in a special operation outside the family's political stronghold in the southern city of Jalal-Abad, which was ravaged last month by a wave of violence against ethnic Uzbeks.
Police said Akhmat Bakiyev confessed to involvement in the unrest, which was sparked by small clashes in the nearby city of Osh that swelled into devastating rampages by ethnic Kyrgyz mobs on Uzbek neighborhoods. The violence left hundreds of minority Uzbeks dead and forced 400,000 others to flee.
The violence had political overtones, since many southern Kyrgyz backed Bakiyev, who was ousted in a bloody revolt in April, while ethnic Uzbeks supported the interim government.
The latest arrest raised the possibility of new violence but also showed the government was determined to halt months of turmoil. A caretaker government is in charge until elections in October.
The interim government has offered cash rewards for information leading to the arrest of Bakiyev's fugitive colleagues, including former premier Daniyar Usenov.
The rewards of US$20,000 to US$100,000 are colossal in a country where the average monthly salary is US$130.
Hopes for sustained peace were further bolstered when the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe announced it would send an international police force to the Central Asian nation.
Akhmat Bakiyev was captured on Wednesday night in a special operation outside the family's political stronghold in the southern city of Jalal-Abad, which was ravaged last month by a wave of violence against ethnic Uzbeks.
Police said Akhmat Bakiyev confessed to involvement in the unrest, which was sparked by small clashes in the nearby city of Osh that swelled into devastating rampages by ethnic Kyrgyz mobs on Uzbek neighborhoods. The violence left hundreds of minority Uzbeks dead and forced 400,000 others to flee.
The violence had political overtones, since many southern Kyrgyz backed Bakiyev, who was ousted in a bloody revolt in April, while ethnic Uzbeks supported the interim government.
The latest arrest raised the possibility of new violence but also showed the government was determined to halt months of turmoil. A caretaker government is in charge until elections in October.
The interim government has offered cash rewards for information leading to the arrest of Bakiyev's fugitive colleagues, including former premier Daniyar Usenov.
The rewards of US$20,000 to US$100,000 are colossal in a country where the average monthly salary is US$130.
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