Riots in Kazakhstan: the revolt rumbles, a heavy human toll, Russian troops on the spot – LCI

For the Kazakh opponent Moukhtar Abliazo, there is no doubt that a “revolution” is on the move in his country. “The regime change has not yet taken place, but the revolution has already taken place in people’s minds”, considers the ex-banker and ex-minister of 58 years who fell out of favor in his country at the end of the 1990s. “I consider that this is the end of the regime, the question is only how long is it going to take,” he said. “It can last a year, but everything can also change in two weeks”, he sketches.

The former Soviet republic, long considered the most stable country in Central Asia, is shaken by a protest that erupted in the west on Sunday before reaching Almaty, the economic capital, where protests have turned. riot against power. This Thursday, protesters attacked and set fire to official buildings, including the town hall and the presidential residence. The security forces responded by firing live ammunition. Authorities reported “tens” demonstrators killed and more than a thousand people injured, 62 seriously. Eighteen members of the security forces were also killed and 748 injured, news agencies reported, citing the authorities.

The anger began on Sunday, after a rise in the prices of liquefied natural gas (LNG), in the city of Janaozen, in the west of the country rich in natural resources, before spreading to the large regional city of ‘Aktau, on the shores of the Caspian Sea. Kazakhstan, accustomed in the past to double-digit growth rates, is suffering from falling oil prices and the economic crisis in Russia, which has led to the devaluation of the Kazakh tenge and high inflation.

On Tuesday evening, the authorities tried to calm the situation by conceding a reduction in the price of LNG, fixing it at 50 tenges (0.1 euro) per liter in the region, against 120 at the start of the year. However, this promise did not lead to the dispersal of the demonstrators, who demanded to speak to the president.

There followed a demonstration bringing together several thousand people on Tuesday in Almaty. In this authoritarian country where such gatherings are rare, police used stun grenades and tear gas to disperse protesters, who chanted to the address of the 68-year-old president: “the old man out!” and “resignation of the government!”. Two AFP journalists, who saw police fire to disperse the crowd, counted at least 5,000 participants in this demonstration. Since then, protests have multiplied until Thursday, when the country, in “state of emergency”, is close to implosion.

On Thursday, the UN human rights chief called on all parties to the conflict in Kazakhstan to “to refrain from all violence” and claimed a “peaceful resolution”.

Faced with this situation, Russia and its allies announced this Thursday morning the dispatch of the first contingent of peacekeeping forces to Kazakhstan. “A collective peacekeeping force from the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) has been dispatched to Kazakhstan for a limited period in order to stabilize and normalize the situation.”, said this military alliance in a statement broadcast on Telegram by the spokesperson for Russian diplomacy, Maria Zakharova.

Worried, the United States immediately warned Russian troops against any human rights violations or attempts to “take over” of the country’s institutions. “The United States, and frankly the whole world, is monitoring any possible human rights violation. And we are also monitoring any act that may lay the groundwork for a takeover of the institutions of Kazakhstan.”, said US diplomacy spokesman Ned Price. “We hope that the government of Kazakhstan will be able to respond to problems which are fundamentally of an economic and political nature”, he added.

The European Union has also said “very concerned” by the situation. “Great concern about the development of the situation in Kazakhstan. External military aid reminds us of situations to be avoided”, declared on his Twitter account the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell.