BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan (AP) – Kyrgyzstan’s prime minister on Wednesday announced the dismissal of several top Cabinet members in an apparent attempt to steal thunder from the opposition, but President Kurmanbek Bakiyev blocked the move.
Opposition politicians have been increasing their pressure on Bakiyev, saying he must implement reforms or face massive protests reminiscent of those that drove his predecessor out of the country.
Prime Minister Azim Isabekov said that first deputy premier Daniyar Usenov, along with the Cabinet’s chief of staff and the ministers of economics, emergency situations and health care had been dismissed. An official in Bakiyev’s office, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak to the media, said the president approved the dismissals.
But several hours later, Bakiyev spokesman Nurlan Shakiyev said the president had refused to approve them. The statement was made after leading opposition figures rejected Isabekov’s invitation to name their candidates for the Cabinet jobs and said they would continue their push for Bakiyev’s dismissal.
Opposition groups have stepped up pressure on Bakiyev’s Cabinet, vowing to go ahead with rallies next month seeking his dismissal and early elections amid a deepening crisis in this impoverished ex-Soviet republic. The parties have accused Bakiyev of corruption and cronyism.
Temir Sariyev, the co-chairman of the opposition For Reforms movement, described the move as insignificant and said it would not discourage the opposition from demanding Bakiyev’s removal. “The authorities are mistaken if they think they can stop the opposition by dismissing five ministers,” Sariyev said.
Another senior opposition figure, United Front leader Omurbek Suvanaliyev, also shrugged off the ministers’ dismissal as a “political game” and told The Associated Press that Bakiyev’s backtracking was a “sign of the government’s agony.”
Last week, Bakiyev promised constitutional reform and fired the unpopular top prosecutor in a bid to pacify the opposition. On Monday, he met another opposition request by withdrawing his veto of legislation eliminating the state television channel.
But opposition groups said they would stick to demonstrations planned beginning Apr. 11 because of “the pointlessness of talks with the current government.”
The country has been plagued with political squabbling since longtime leader Askar Akayev was driven from office amid opposition protests in March 2005.
The United States maintains an air base in this Central Asian nation to back operations in nearby Afghanistan. Russia also has a small air base here under a security agreement between several former Soviet republics.
