Entire Dzhalalabad is in the hands of the opposition. The authorities are in disarray
Our attention focused on the developments in Osh in southern Kyrgyzstan, we forgot about the events in Dzhalalabad, another regional center where government buildings were raided and smashed up by the opposition, yesterday. What is happening there now?
Local journalist and analyst Zhalil Saparov on the phone from Dzhalalabad says that celebration of the Navruz, the spring holiday, is in full swing in Dzhalalabad at this point.
"Order in Dzhalalabad is maintained by the Coordinating Kenesh [council] of people's self-government under Chairman Zhusup Zheenbekov elected by the people. Life goes on. Not a single police officer or state official is to be encountered in the city or in districts around it, but order is maintained. Not a single episode of looting or public disorder has been reported yet," Saparov said.
Yesterday, anti-Akayev opposition seized the building of the regional administration again and smashed up Dzhalalabad municipal and regional directorates of internal affairs. Police officers and servicemen of the Internal Troops capitulated to the crowds armed with rocks, slings, and bottles of Molotov's cocktail.
"Erkin Esinaliyev, Deputy Chief of the Osh Regional Internal Affairs Directorate, and Ermek Kochorov, Deputy Chief of the Osh City Police Force, swore allegiance to the people several minutes ago," Irina Gordiyenko of the Moscow-based Novaya Gazeta reported from the central square of Osh.
"Senior officers of the Osh regional secret services are addressing the opposition rally. Police commanders of the second echelon who sided up with the opposition left the rally to carry out their duties," Gordiyenko said.
Alisher Saipov and Gordiyenko report that several thousands of residents of the nearby Dzhalalabad region of Kyrgyzstan joined the rally about 30 minutes ago. The protesters currently in the square number approximately 15,000 people. There are lots of foreign correspondents in the crowd.
Correspondent of the Moscow-based Novaya Gazeta Irina Gordiyenko reports from the central square of Osh, the southern capital of Kyrgyzstan, that senior officers of the Osh regional division of secret services are addressing thousands of supporters of the opposition at the rally.
"All senior officials of the Osh police and National Security Service came to the rally of their own volition. They intend to address the rally," Gordiyenko told Ferghana.Ru news agency by phone. "They will swear allegiance to the people several minutes from now in the gesture indicating that they have taken up with the insurgents."
Rally of the opposition continues in Osh in southern Kyrgyzstan. The city is practically in the hands of the protesters. At about 11.00 a.m. they seized several buildings including those of the National Security Service, regional directorate of internal affairs, and regional and municipal prosecutor's offices. The Internal Troops and policemen fell back under the assault.
Moderate and radical opposition activists are addressing the rally. Some of them encourage the protesters to attack the Osh jail in order to liberate all inmates including criminals.
Formal opposition leaders (Anvar Artikov, Roza Otunbayeva, Umirbek Tekebayev, Dusheinkul Chotonov) are in the square too, trying to control the mob, calling for order, and issuing orders on organization of self-defense detachments.
The Navruz, one of the most important holidays in the region, is celebrated in Central Asia, today.
The spring holiday is known as the Nooruz in Bishkek. Every year, between 8,000 and 10,000 people assemble in the central square of the capital and the president addresses the nation.
Everything is different now. There are about 500 policemen in the central square of Bishkek, and no festivities.
As soon as the first suspicions that Askar Akayev was abroad appeared (and the president has not addressed the nation yet), general public began waiting for the Navruz - the day when the national leader always appears in public. It did not happen yesterday, when the events in the Dzhalalabad region were under way, or today.
All of that enables the opposition to maintain that the president fled the country.
Press service of the head of the Kyrgyz state maintains that Akayev is in Bishkek regardless of what certain reports in media outlets imply. The president remains in the Government House and "does not plan leaving", Akayev's press service announced.
State TV channels were broadcasting concerts during the clashes between the police and protesters and riots in the Dzhalalabad region, yesterday.
AKIpress-Ferghana news agency quoted Bektur Adanov, envoy of the Foreign Ministry in southern Kyrgyzstan, as saying at his press conference in Osh on March 18 that there were no debatable parts of the border between Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.
Government commission for delimitation and demarcation of the Kyrgyz-Uzbek border spent several days in the Kadamdzhai district, Batken region. The state border between the two countries is 1,250 - 1,300 kilometers long, and 1,097 kilometers of them have been mapped.
The next round of the negotiations will take place in Andizhan on April 5, 2005. Asked about the enclaves, the diplomat was somewhat vague. Adanov said, for example, that the subject was quite important and would be handled on the basis of the accord between the two countries. Commenting on the statement released by the authorities of Kyrgyzstan on the return of the Shakhimardan enclave, Adanov said that it was a matter of time.
The authorities of Uzbekistan had asked for a transport corridor to the Sokh enclave, and the diplomat said that the issue was studied and contemplated at this point. The matter of the consulate of Uzbekistan in Osh was also touched upon. It has been talked about for years now with nothing to show for it and residents of southern Kyrgyzstan in need of Uzbek visas are forced to travel to the Embassy of Uzbekistan in Bishkek. According to Adanov, establishment of the consulate was in the interests of both countries.
