2023-07-06 12:27:50
Kyrgyzstan
Opponents arrested for attempted “coup”
Members of the opposition party were arrested and several searches carried out. In question, the opposition to an agreement with neighboring Uzbekistan.
PostedJuly 6, 2023, 2:27 PM
The secret service of Kyrgyzstan (GKNB) announced on Thursday the arrest for an attempted “coup” of members of the main opposition party in this Central Asian country, whose leader is already under investigation. “The GKNB foiled the illegal activities of members of the Butun Kyrgyzstan (United Kyrgyzstan) party, who were clandestinely planning large-scale riots and unrest in the country to lead to a coup,” the services said in a statement. communicated.
According to the same source, searches were carried out at the homes of “ten party members”, of whom “two were remanded in custody”, while “investigative measures were continuing once morest the other persons arrested”. The GKNB accuses the United Kyrgyzstan party, with six elected members of parliament and led by nationalist Adakhan Madoumarov, former presidential candidate in 2021, of having coordinated the activities of those arrested.
Political instability due to water
Mr Madoumarov is being prosecuted for “riots”, “forceful seizure of power” and “abuse of power” in a case, according to local media, dating back to 2009, where he is accused of having signed a controversial border agreement with Tajikistan. He is also one of the main critical voices opposing a border agreement with neighboring Uzbekistan, which notably involves the use of the Kempir-Abad water reservoir, a crucial resource in this agricultural region suffering from drought. .
Authorities in Kyrgyzstan’s capital Bishkek have introduced water supply restrictions, including nightly cuts, as groundwater levels have dropped 15-20 meters from last year and temperatures are already rising at 40°C. While drought notoriously affects the rural areas of Kyrgyzstan, it is now the capital of this Central Asian country that is affected.
In October, around twenty political figures and senior civil servants opposed to this agreement were arrested for “attempted coup d’etat” and not all of them were released. In another case, the GKNB arrested, at the beginning of June, regarding thirty people accused of wanting to “organize riots and a coup d’etat”. Kyrgyzstan, a former Soviet republic that has remained an ally of Russia and is getting closer to China, has experienced multiple political crises with three revolutions (2005, 2010, 2020) since the fall of the USSR in 1991.
Central Asia might become the scene of “water wars”. Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan are tearing themselves apart to monopolize the region’s water reserves. The stakes are high because control over this resource would, for the country that manages to do so, boost a fragile economy. These two former Soviet republics are poor and hard hit by climate change, which will only exacerbate this type of conflict.
(AFP)Show comments
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